The Kiss Of The Blade
by lilouthemonkey
Summary: onkey D. Lilou, the twin sister of Monkey D. Luffy, is desperately running from a psychopath scientist in North Blue, separated from her brothers and robbed off her humanity, with her heart aching from horrible experiences which had changed her life forever. Among all that terror, she meets a damaged, twisted boy, named Trafalgar Law. And a sweet tragedy begins.
1. Tiny monsters

**Author's note: This story is a sort of a crossfiction with Tokyo Ghoul, though it's ok if you haven't watched it. There are no TG characters in here and the story takes place completely** **in the One Piece world. And it's also AU since Law is only 3 years older than Luffy and my OC. Hope you enjoy it and remember that reviews make the author happy;D**

 **Ps: English is my second language so please excuse my weird grammer.**

 **Disclamer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my OCs.**

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Chapter 1 - Tiny monsters

11 year old Law's eyes were widened in terror and he couldn't move a single muscle as he was laying still on the hard ground. Not long ago, he had been through hell and made it out somehow, yet this was something beyond his darkest imaginations, To think such a thing could even exist!

The creature standing in front of him was radiating pure power despite it being not that big in size. His little figure was under the shadows of the small cave's rocky walls still the purple and crimson flames emerging from the creature's wings managed to lighten up the small place enough for it to see his laying body vividly. It's burning red eyes were pointed at his direction. The frizzling sound of flames was reminding him of that burning hell, Flevance, that once was his home. _'Is this what I'm supposed to hear before I die? I ran while this sound was all over the Flevance, and here it is again! Is this fate?! For me to be burned to death?'_ he thought bitter to himself. His steel grey eyes were still locked on the creature.

Among all the terror and fear he was feeling inside of him, somewhere within that mix of horrified emotions, he found himself looking at the creature's shape with an undoubtable sense of admiration. It was beautiful, graceful, it was scaring him to death but still he couldn't deny it's magnificence as it was standing before him, those shining and pure colors of it's flaming wings and the spell-bounding energy coming out of those blood colored eyes, it truly was like a perfect piece of art, the purest and wildest kind of art he couldn't even imagine before.

He was frozen by the elegance of his death angel. _'God must like me a lot to sent an angel this breathtakingly beautiful to take my life...!'_ he then closed his eyes after one last glance at the angel and waited for it to approach him. Just a moment later, he felt the angel's presence leaving the cave and heard something dropped on the ground outside his hideout. He opened his eyes in disbelief and saw the back of angel's figure with it's head thrown back staring at the starry sky above. Then suddenly he heard it's sobs. The angel was desperately crying out! He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The angel was crying and sobbing like it was heavily in pain. Law still couldn't move from his spot but he was staring at it with awe for several minutes as the angel was grieving in agony and pain.

Then it happened. Angel raised one shaking arm slowly, opened it's mouth and bit it! It pulled off a piece of it's own flesh and ate it! Law was drowning in cold sweat and uncontrollably shivering, he stilled in his spot as he witnessed the angel biting and swallowing it's both hands while blood was sprouting in the air. _'It's a dream! It's a dream! It's only a nightmare! This can't be real! It... just... can't...'_ Law thought horrified and pressed his eyes shut trying to ignore the sound of sobbing and the blood dripping on the ground. After a while he heard something hardly slammed onto the ground and then it went completely quiet.

He never dared to open his eyes until the dim light of morning sun creeped on his face. He gathered all of his courage and finally opened his eyes, hoping it all happened in a bad dream. But soon he found out it wasn't as he saw a little bump few inches away from the entrance of the cave. He sat and narrowed his eyes, it looked like a person's body, a child. He barely stood on his feet and hesitated for a second before making his mind and started walking towards it.

His eyes must've been playing tricks on him last night, he concluded, as he stood there staring at a little girl's fragile figure sleeping deep on the hard ground. She looked peaceful, very thin, silk-like raven colored long hair, and a traditional North Blue fluffy hat on her head, very much like Law's with only slight differences. Except for her hat which looked oddly clean and intact, every other piece of her outfit was extremely worn out and ragged. She was wearing a black tank top and blue jean shorts with a pair of black boots.

"Hmmm? It's just a normal kid!" Law mumbled.

His eyes suddenly caught the wholeness of the view before him and he gasped. The girl was sleeping in the center of a huge bloodstained circle on the rocks. The ground around her was completely covered with blood. _'But it can't be! She has ARMS on her body! And there's no wings on her back!'_ Yet she was there, laying at the same spot he saw the angel feeding on itself and she was covered with blood. He looked at her again more cautiously, her face was buried under the mass of her hair. Law gasped as he noticed her little chin, it was _bloody_.

 _'What IS she?! She seems normal now but... IT WAS HER!'_ Law stood still, staring at her peaceful sleeping figure in disbelief. It was hitting him hard in the head. This tiny girl came to eat him last night, and for some reason she didn't, she ate _herself_ instead! And now she had her arms grown back? Just what was she?! Why didn't she just eat him? And he remembered how much in pain she sounded to be when she left the cave. This thing was dying from hunger, yet it didn't kill him while he knew she could easily do it. A strange feeling was creeping up his spine. She was some sort of a monster, saving his life from herself!

Law carefully leaned down. He held his breath and quickly pocked her arm. Nothing. He pocked her again. _'Well, pocking a sleeping man-eating monster isn't the best idea but she could kill me last night if she wanted to!'_ he thought.

The girl slightly moved her fingers and tried to raise her hand. Law quickly backed off. She slowly growled and rolled on her back. Her hair went off her face and their eyes locked on each other's. Her eyes widened suddenly and she jumped on her feet in a heartbeat. Stepping backward she stared at Law terrified. Nope, she didn't look like a man-eating monster at all!

He studied her from head to toe. She was fairly shorter than Law, big light grey eyes, an old scar mark under her left eye. A round, pink burn mark went from the front of her left shoulder to it's back, rather than that, her skin was incredibly pale. She was beautiful, Law noted.

She took two more steps backward with her eyes still cautious on Law's movements, she seemed to be _afraid of him_!

Law stood still. He narrowed his eyes and gazed at her light grey eyes. They seemed awfully lost. Law slowly took a step towards her and said

"Are you alright?!"

She stayed silent for few moments and then shook her head harshly in positive response.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Is this all _your blood_?!" he asked impatient.

The girl said nothing in response. Law pouted annoyed and turned away. Dream or not, this girl looked like she needed help! Normally he wouldn't even care to ask her anything and would've just leave her be. But if what he thought happened last night was real, she basically spared his life!

"Come inside if you wanted to rest or something. This is my hideout, but I'm leaving soon." Law coldly said and walked back into the hideout.

After about an hour or so, he heard her light footsteps entering the cave. She walked towards the small pit of water at the end of the cave, dropped her little backpack on the ground and sat down. She had changed into clean clothes, he noticed. After she drank some water, she leaned her back against the wall and looked at Law. Her eyes were calm and cold, Law noticed. No trace of emotions could be found in them. Her expressions were oddly like Law himself. She looked no older than 8, maybe even younger.

"Thank you for letting me in. I'll leave once I gather some strength to move." she said. Her emotionless voice caught Law's attention. She really did look exhausted.

"Who are you?" Law asked curiously. He was getting impatient again.

"It's not polite to ask for someone's name without telling them yours first." she said as she sweetly smiled at him. His jaw fell down as low as gravity and physics allowed. Her manners now seemed terribly in contrast with her appearances. She actually looked like a beggar in his eyes, definitely not one who would care or even know how to politely communicate with others. He pulled himself together and said

"Mhmm... My name is Trafalgar Law, and this cave is where I'm temporarily staying at. Now... who are you?!" he asked again.

She smiled "My name is Lilou. And, well, I'm basically a runaway."

"Lilou... just Lilou?" he asked confused.

She looked down at her boots and whispered "Just Lilou. I... don't know my last name."

"Eeeh?" he tilted his head and blinked. It was odd, not that he cared though. He was pretty sure Lilou was the angel he saw last night, however, he couldn't bring himself to mention anything about it.

"Where are you from? Are you from this island?"

She shook her head in negative response.

"I'm from East Blue. I used to live in an island named Dawn Island. Where are you from, Law?"

"East Blue? Eh?..." he tilted his head and looked at her hat again. She must've stolen that hat then or... _ate the owner and took it?!_ He pushed that thought away immediately.

"I'm from North Blue... From Flevance..." his voice dropped. Lilou gasped as she heard the name. Not that he didn't expect it.

"Fl... Flevance?! The White City? The one that the World Government burned to the ground? Were you there then? How did you escape?! WAIT! Don't tell me... _Are you going to die too_?!" she nearly shouted the last question.

Law frowned. _'What's with this girl? She's fully aware of the whole thing but she's not... scared of me?! Aren't people normally supposed to be afraid or running away or something? Does she know the truth about the Amber Lead Disease?'_ Law thought to himself surprised, then it hit him in the head that _he's the one_ whose supposed to be afraid of _her_!

"You ask too much questions, and you're annoying!" Law answered coldly with narrowed eyes. He turned his back to Lilou. "It's fully bright outside already and you seem to have your strength back. Go away. I don't have time for a noisy brat like you." He stated as he stood up and walked away from her.

"Wait!"

Law stopped but didn't turn around.

"What?"

"Are you alone? Where are you going?"

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. Does her questions ever end?!

"Why? It's none of your business."

"I'm alone too, and I have nowhere to go. I can't go back to my home, and there's nowhere else I'd actually want to go but... I'm... Be my friend, Law!"

His eyes widened in shock. _Friend_? She knew he was from Flevance, and yet she was asking for his friendship? Besides, _'DO MAN-EATING MONSTERS EVEN WANT TO HAVE FRIENDS? Just what is wrong with her!'_

"I don't need a friend!" he turned around and gazed at her with his cold eyes. "I don't care what are you gonna do or if you can or cannot go back to your home. I have things to do and I definitely don't need some random annoying brat like you clinging to my leg."

He turned again and continued walking to the entrance of the cave. _'Tsk.. Friend!'_ Like he wanted something stupid like that. He just wanted revenge, he didn't care how, he just wanted to avenge his family and his friends who were slaughtered behind the closed bars of Flevance. He wanted to avenge their lives from the world. Plus, he didn't have any spare time to waste on a stupid and pointless task like friendship. Let aside the fact that he could end up in her stomach any second!

"I'm not gonna be in your way, I promise. And I'm Strong too, I can fight well, and..."

She stopped and took a deep breath. She continued with a steady and cold voice which somehow managed to surprise Law.

"And there's a person... a very strong person that... I want to erase from the face of earth."

Law turned to face her again, with slight curiosity this time. Her hat was shadowing her eyes, she looked different, her body was tensed and he could sense a determination drifting out from inside her. She looked up and stared into his eyes with a strange look in hers.

"I'm strong, but that bastard is stronger than me. At best, I only have 3 years to train and become strong enough to defeat that son of a bitch, and revenge what he did to my life."

Law stood quiet, thinking deeply about what she just said. At best she has 3 years to destroy a man who destroyed her life? what was that supposed to mean? Was she sick too? What happened to this little girl? She wasn't acting like her age at all, like Law himself, she looked like she's been through a nasty situation at the peak of her childhood. And that transformation and the blood and her arms... What did that man do to her? To be fair, what Law witnessed last night was enough to cause an 8 year old tiny girl to state such harsh words towards something.

"But at this rate, I'm not sure if I can survive all by myself. I'm not used to be this lonely, I don't _want_ to be this lonely. I'm going to die soon, so meanwhile, staying alone all by myself is not what I'm planning to do."

Law jumped as Lilou started speaking, he was too deep in his thoughts. Now there were even more questions he wanted to ask.

"What do you mean you're going to die soon? Who is this man you're talking about?" he asked curious.

"It's a long story." she mumbled.

"Hey! if you're asking me to be your friend I need to know what kind of person I'm going to deal with!" he almost shouted, annoyed by her awfully meaningless answer.

"I know..." Lilou whispered. She remained silent for few moments as if she was gathering her thoughts. Law sat next to the pit and stared at her. Finally she raised her head and their grey eyes met. She took a deep breath and started.

"I suppose you are accepting me as a friend since you're not being completely rude anymore, so, as a sign of my gratitude and honesty, I'm gonna correct a wrong answer I gave you earlier."

Law narrowed his eyes but stayed quiet. She was _too_ polite!

"My name is Monkey D. Lilou. Few years ago back in my hometown, me and Luffy, my twin brother, met a great pirate captain named Shanks and become friends with him and his nakama, he was basically the main reason we decided to become pirates, we adore him, literally! His first man told Luffy and I to never reveal our full names to dangerous people, or strangers, until we are old and strong enough to be able to fight and protect ourselves properly. I still don't know the reason however."

"D. you said..." Law mumbled absentmindedly as if he was talking to himself. He tapped on his chin with his index finger a few times.

"Now that you mentioned, my name has secret parts too which I'm not supposed to reveal to anyone."

Lilou tilted her head and stared at him with her curios big eyes.

"Really?"

"Mhm. My full name is actually Trafalgar D. Water Law. Water is a real name but the D. is a secret name that has been passing down to generations throughout the history. Now I don't know what it means or why should I hide it, anyways, I don't really care about it now either."

"So it's the D. huh?..." she mumbled confused. "I thought it was the 'Monkey' I had to hide so if people nicknamed me saru(=Monkey) or something and I got mad, I would be able to beat the hell outta them."

Law looked at her in disbelief. Was this little monster serious?!

"Saru?"

"Uhmm."

A sudden rush of laughter suddenly burst out of Law's mouth and filled the whole place. Lilou blinked in confusion as the formerly mean boy was laughing uncontrollably and was grabbing his stomach. She wasn't sure what she said that was so funny but he just wouldn't stop laughing! Soon after, she was laughing at Law's laughter, to the point that both of them were heaving for air and just couldn't stop. Their childish voices filled the air for several minutes and they just couldn't hold back the laughter. For a moment between those joyful minutes, Law realized that since that nightmare he's been through, it was the first time he was feeling that happy and at ease, actually it was the first time he was feeling anything at all besides anger and hatred. He never dared to even wish for being this happy ever again.

At the same time, Lilou too realized it's the first time she is laughing like this since the day she was kidnapped and got separated from her brothers. It felt like she was back home with Luffy, Ace and Sabo again. Sabo... Suddenly she saw his face behind her closed eyes, with his cheerful grin and that one missing tooth of his. At least she knew he was happy for her too as he was watching his little sister from heaven. The thought made her feel a huge rush of joy and relief as she continued laughing with this new friend of hers, Law.

Their loud laughter went on for another few minutes until they turned into giggles. Law tried to sit up as he wiped the tears from his (now more childish) face.

"S-sar-saru..." and chuckled to himself again.

Lilou wiped her tears too as she tried to pull herself together and let out another giggle."Aaaahhh I didn't know you were laughing at _this!"_

Law looked at her as he hiccuped from too much laughing with widened eyes. "Then what were you laughing at?"

"Your laughter was so funny that made me laugh."

"Seriously!?" he let out another giggle then. Suddenly the air felt so much lighter around the two kids. Both were feeling much more comfortable around each other and they start talking and telling their stories until it was getting dark outside.

"-and then gramps took Luffy and I to the mountain bandits and said we're going to live with Dadan and them. Then we met Ace and Sabo there and we exchanged cups of sake and became siblings." Lilou said with a wide grin on her face "But..." her voice dropped and she fell quiet. Law raised one eyebrow and waited. She looked down at her tiny fingers and continued "One day, me and Luffy and Ace caught up in a huge fire in the Grey Terminal, and Ace went missing for days, he came back eventually, but... Sabo was... we found out that Sabo... was dead... he died in an accident while he was trying to run from his royal family..." Lilou felt a lump in her throat and she felt tears shaping in her big grey eyes. She pressed the palm of her hands against her eyes _'I'm not allowed to cry... not now... not just yet...'_ she thought and pushed back the tears.

"It was so terrible... we couldn't get over his death for months but as hard as it was, things went back to normal after a while. And then, two weeks after my 7th birthday, I got kidnapped while I was wandering alone by the shore. You see I was really strong for a normal little girl cause we used to train everyday to become stronger by the time we were going to set sail and become pirates, and I kicked the asses of a bunch of those kidnappers, but I was alone and they were too many and they took me eventually. Then I woke up in a ship full of children around my own age and then they dropped us off in an island in North Blue, in that bastard's laboratory. He's a damned distorted psychopath calling himself the greatest scientist in the world, that Caesar Clown! He's the one I'm running from... he performed some horrible experiments on me and literally tortured me for a year, but finally I took a chance and I escaped by using the powers of the _Phan-Phan No Mi_ that he made me eat there. I can create phantoms and mirages for other people and some other stuff. But as I was heading out of the building, I took a wrong turn and I ended up in some sort of a storage room. There were a lot of medical files and some of the children's personal belongings. I wanted to leave soon as I found my stuff but then I got really curious and I checked one of those files. You see I can't quite call myself a doctor yet but I have a lot of medical knowledge, since I learned how to read and write, I used to read a lot of medical and sciential books, and even before that, Makino-chan and Sabo used to read them out loud for me so... it didn't took me much effort to notice that the project, the Gho- the... experiments he performed on us, it was all just a huge failure. I just kept looking for my file so I would know how much longer I will be alive."

 _'I almost said Ghoul! Dammit I can't let that slip! He'll run if he finds out I'm a monster!'_ she thought to herself horrid and then looked into Law's eyes.

"And then you escaped and here you are?" Law asked with a low voice. Lilou nodded her head. "I see..." Law whispered.

Then it was an experiment. What she was trying to hide was the result of that man's experiments. He remembered the sense of admiration he felt last night upon seeing her as she was transformed into that thing. He was completely hypnotized by her beauty! But why was she hiding it? Well not that it wasn't understandable, but, she seemed nice, even sweet! And she hasn't tried to eat him or something. _'She was about to say something accidentally, but she stopped! Should I ask?! Nah! She would say if she wanted to, plus, I literally owe my life to her! She spared my life last night and now she wants me to be her friend! Maybe... She's afraid of me leaving her, soon as I know she's... different!'_ he thought in disbelief, it oddly made sense. He felt slightly sorry for her. They were like each other in some ways though, both considered monsters by the society, both completely alone, both running from death, and both going to die anyways.

At the same time, Lilou was drowned in her thoughts. She was sure he didn't see her last night. She almost killed him! Why would he even be talking to her if he knew what she was? She wasn't even a human anymore, she was a Ghoul! A creature who couldn't even eat humans' food, only human flesh. What would he do if he found out? _'He would run of course! Maybe even try to kill me! I shouldn't get hungry for another three or four weeks, until then, I guess I can have a friend... But then I have to leave before I go crazy and eat him or something! I just have to make him think I'm nor-'_

"Hey by the way, what was all that blood around you outside?!" he couldn't stop his curiosity and finally asked. If she wanted to tell him the truth, she would do so now. If she lies, then he would never bring it up again, he decided. Though, he was desperately wishing she decides to trust him and tell him the truth.

Her eyes widened _'Shit!'_ her brain was desperately looking for a rational answer not containing anything about being a Ghoul, haunting humans and eating their flesh and loosing her sanity to hunger.

"It... it was mine..." truth "I... umm you see, I... can't eat any kind of food after those experiments..." almost truth "And yesterday I... I really wanted to eat some grilled fish I was kinda hoping I could digest it but, I couldn't and I kept throwing up blood until I passed out. It's just that..." she looked down "My body works in a different way after that thing. I don't ever get hungry and I get sick if I eat anything. I can only drink water and some other simple liquids." mostly lie.

Law stared at her tiny figure. He knew exactly what was it that she could eat. He inhaled deeply and nodded his head.

"So, are you alright now?" he simply asked. She looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah, I don't feel sick anymore." she felt relieved that he didn't ask more questions. They kept talking for few more hours.

At night while Lilou was falling asleep, her mind was full with Law's story. He was the elder son of a family of doctors in Flevance. He used to study at a medical school and their lives were complete and full of joy, only until the day that the Amber Lead Disease reached its peak and people from all generations in the city started to fall victim to the fatal disease, including his younger sister Lammy.

Then the nightmare began, people were dying in pain and there was no cure neither any support from the World Government. The nobles of Flevance left the city at early stages, abandoning the dying citizens. The whole country turned into a quarantine area because the government hid the truth about the Amber Lead Disease not being contagious, and anyone who was trying to escape was getting shot dead.

Not so long after, a war broke out. The Navy and the neighboring countries attacked the country and massacred every man, woman and child and set the white city completely on fire and burned it to the ground, justifying their action as self defense.

Law saw his parents, his sister, his friends and everyone else got killed cold-heartedly and barely managed to escape the town, hiding under the dead bodies that were being transported out of town, knowing he had only about 3 years of life expectancy as he checked his father's medical records on him.

He hated the Navy, he hated the World Government, his goal was to kill, burn and destroy as much as he could until he dies, and he didn't believe in anything anymore.


	2. How it all began

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my OCs.**

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Chapter 2 - How it all began

The wind was hitting hard as the two kids carefully walked on the edge of the rough cliffs. They were trying to climb down that dangerously sharp edged cliff and get to the shore. The sound of the waves beneath them was filling their ears and little drops of water were sprouting on their faces. They had finally found an abandoned boat in that shore, fine enough to get them to the one or maybe two next islands. Law didn't even notice the boat from where they were up on top of that cliff, not after he checked the shore with a spyglass and barely saw the silhouette of it while Lilou was pointing at the boat all along with bare eyes like it was something right in front of her nose. _'Guess her sight and other senses are far more stronger than others too, in addition to her weird strength and speed!'_ he thought as he was watching her from the corner of his eyes. A moment later, the rock she fixed her foot on broke and she slipped on the cliff. Law immediately grabbed her arm and hold her mid air but she screamed horrified, watching her fluffy spotted hat falling beneath them.

 _"NO! MY HAT!"_

"Lilou! Stop moving like a crazy rat we're both gonna fall you BAKA!"

" _MY HAT! NO LET GO OF MY ARM!_ " she screamed out and easily pulled her arm out of his grip and she fell down!

Law screamed her name. It wasn't very high from where they were, but it was enough to break someone's bones if they fell like she did. A loud sound of clashing shook his ears.

" _LILOU_!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. She didn't answer. Law started to climb down more hastily as his heart was beating in his ears and he was heaving for air. She couldn't be dead. If he could reach her soon enough he could probably save her. He mumbled "Faster faster fast-"

"Oooooiii Laaaaww! What're you doing you gonna fall walking klutzy like that!" Lilou shouted at him as she was dusting her hat off casually. Law halted and narrowed his eyes and he growled annoyed when he saw her standing.

"SHUT UP YOU MORON! I THOUGHT YOU'RE DEAD WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU JUMPING OFF LIKE THAT?!" his eyes were widened so much that they could actually fall out of his head any moment!

"Yehihihihi! Sorry sorry I'm alright get down here safe hahahahaha!" she laughed out.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" he screamed a moment before his feet touched the sandy shore.

"Aaaaahahahahaha sorry sorry hahahaha... I didn't thought that through." she cheerfully laughed out again.

An hour later they were sitting next to the small fire Law had made, he was eating the grilled rabbits Lilou helped him hunt earlier that day, and Lilou was laying on her stomach humming a song while she was looking at a picture she pulled out from inside of her metal armband. Law was thinking about the way she acted when her hat was falling down the cliff. He thought she stole it earlier but when it was falling she got so upset as if it was a person falling down!

"Hey..."

"What's wrong Law?"

"Where did you get that hat from? It's a traditional North Blue hat, but you said you lived in East Blue..."

She rolled to her back. Then took off her hat and carefully placed it on her stomach.

"I know it's a northern style hat. But a couple years ago back in Foosha I saw a pack of travelers and there was this kid with them who wore a hat so much like this one, I just couldn't stop staring at it, it was SO COOL YOU SEE! So Ace asked Gramps to buy me one of these hats from North Blue on his behalf. Then a few month later Ace gave me this one for my 6th birthday!" She looked up at Law and smiled as she placed the hat back on her raven hair.

"It's my treasure." Lilou added and gave him another wide grin.

Law didn't say anything. Her treasure? Weren't treasures supposed to be jewels and gold? Then again, he realized he can't understand Lilou completely for she had a very complicated personality for an 8 year old child, almost as complicated as Law's. She was extremely intelligent and smart and she wasn't lying when she said she's strong, but she was also too lightheaded and carefree at times that Law found it hard to believe that she's the same person. They have been together for almost a month, he wasn't sure how but it was like she had a quality that somehow managed to hypnotize this rude, heartless and mind-broken little boy. More like a medicine, a really strong drug that was causing him ease and peace, or something to hang on to, or someone to rely on and look after at the same time. And Law was starting to realize just then, the fact that how much he needed Lilou in his dark and empty life, a friend, a nakama.

After swallowing the last bite of his meal, Law stood and started to kill the fire. He looked up at the sky and said "Come on let's go already. It's gonna get dark in few hours."

Lilou stood and grabbed her little backpack. She opened her mouth to answer but she froze suddenly. Her nose was itching. She turned around and cautiously looked at the far side of the beach. She was smelling something delicious, very much delicious. And it was so strong, like a bunch of mouthwatering meals were walking closer to her any second. ' _Humans!_ ' She swallowed the saliva that was about to drip from her mouth. It was a month since she last ate, and it wasn't even enough for her. She could live for a month or two by eating a human in whole, but her last meal was her own arms! It was nearly enough but she was feeling more and more hungry in the last few days and she wasn't sure how much longer she could manage to control herself around Law.

"What's wrong Saru?" Law asked worriedly as he stared at her twinkling nose. She jumped as he spoke and pushed the pleasing images of feasting on human flesh back quickly. She whispered "Hum... I... I hear footsteps. More than one."

Law looked at the direction she was staring at. He narrowed his eyes "Are you sure? I can't see anyo-" he gasped soon as his eyes caught a bunch of men coming out from behind a little cliff not much far from them. They didn't look like peaceful people, more like pirates! He counted quickly, eighteen pirates were disgustingly grinning as they were walking towards them. The sunlight was reflecting on the many blades they were carrying.

"They're pirates! Lilou, run!" he said and hastily grabbed her wrist and tried to drag her. But she was steadily standing there, staring at the pirates. They were getting dangerously close. "Lil! Move! What are you doing?!" he nearly shouted as his heart was pounding in his chest "They'll kill us! We can't die _here_!"

She turned slowly and faced him. This wasn't good, Law just knew the look on her face couldn't be good at all. Her eyes seemed absent and her face looked... excited! She pulled back her hand and calmly said "But Law, we'll miss our boat if we run!" her calmness was alarming. She seemed to don't mind the group of pirates approaching them at all! In fact, it was like she was happy about it! Law frowned and growled "We'll find another one! Lilou come on move alrea-"

"Oi oi! Look what we found! Two useless brats all alone camping on the shore?" One of the bigger pirates mockingly shouted and laughed loudly. Law halted and his eyes locked on him. He seemed like their captain. He showed his yellow teeth and shouted again "Oi girl, turn around! It's not normal for kids wandering alone unless they're hiding or something! Interesting that I heard there's a little brat like you in North Blue who has a prize on her little useless head! Hahahaha! Could you be her? Maybe you're not completely useless after all! Hahahahaha!"

Lilou calmly turned and faced him. One of the other pirates' eyes widened and hastily said "C- Captain! It _is_ her! She looks exactly like this picture those soldiers gave us! Look!" he handed a picture to his captain. The captain smirked and licked his lips. His gaze fixed on Lilou's emotionless face.

"Guess it's my lucky day! They'll even give more money if we hand you over alive! Hahahaha! Come here yourself, brat! We'll kill your friend over there quickly if you don't struggle, I promise!" he mockingly said and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture.

Law gasped. She did mention that she was being chased after all. But now they put a reward for her? They had no chance of running at this rate, and they couldn't possibly win against those many grownup men. Law narrowed his eyes and frowned as Lilou took a step forward and smiled. _'What is she up to?!'_

"I am coming there myself, but none of you jerks will lay a finger on my friend." she casually stated. The pirate frowned and growled

"What did you say you little shit? Huh?"

"I said" Lilou's voice was shaking and her face was shining with excitement, all she could think about was the delicious flesh she was going to eat off their bodies, she didn't even care about Law anymore, her mind was only functioning around the idea of eating and ending this painful hunger she was in "That I am going to come to you, wether you want it or not." she continued and grinned.

"What the fuck you're blabbering abo-" the man fell silent as he was staring at her face, terrified out of his mind. So as Law who was standing frozen next to her and staring at her in awe. The little veins around her eyes were pumping and her light grey irises turned into a shiny shade of bloody red, surrounded by now completely black sclera. She mockingly licked her lips and said

"Excuse me, you were saying?" she started walking froward as the pirates were shaking and trying to run. She bend her knees slightly and leaned froward, ready to attack.

"I guess you're done talking, I'm having my meal then!" she cheerfully said with her voice holding tracks of excitement. As Law was staring at her back, her pale skin started to turn red on her shoulders and in less than a heartbeat, two vermilion flaming wings pierced her skin from inside out.

Law gasped. It seemed even more elegant than the last time he saw her in that form.

Her burning eyes were fixed on the screaming pirates, she pushed her feet on the ground and almost flew and landed right in the middle of their group. The captain unsheathed his katana and yelled "NOBODY SAID THE GIRL IS A _MONSTER_!" he swung his sword at her. Lilou hardened her wings and revolved them around her body like a shield. The sound of breaking steel widened the pirate's eyes. His katana was shattered into pieces. Lilou childishly laughed in amusement. Then she opened her wings wide and they changed into crystal like, sharp, red blades. The pirate captain's scream vanished a second later, as the blades on her wings sprouted at him and pierced all over his body. She jumped and sat on his chest. She opened her mouth and buried her teeth in his shoulder and bite off a large piece of his flesh and chewed it down. Blood sprouted out like a fountain and covered her tiny figure all over. She pushed him on the ground and jumped at the others. Killing and eating, blood and flesh and that heavenly taste filling her mouth, were the only things she could think about. She felt like the center of the universe as she jumped from one disjointed body to another. She looked from behind the blood covering her eyes, only nine of them were left. She pushed her left foot on a dead body, flied up in the air and opened her crystalized wings and shot crystal blades at the remaining pirates as she gracefully turned her body a full 360 degrees in the sky. All nine of them dropped as she landed on the bloody sand again. What a mouthwatering sight! Torn up human bodies all around her, waiting for her to feast on them. She jumped on a body and started eating it up. Bite after bite she felt more hypnotized by that heavenly taste she was deprived from for more than a month. Her wings were shining more brightly after every chunk of flesh she swallowed.

She was completely paralyzed until she finished eating the whole eleventh body and then suddenly reality rushed in, hitting her hard in the head. _Law was there!_ She froze as she was leaning on a torn up body, her back to where Law was standing in disbelief and awe.

It finally happened, she lost control and now her only friend knew she was a monster. If only she hunted someone and ate in the past month behind his back, she would be able to hold herself back today. But now it was all over, she could still smell him there, but he would be gone in a matter of minutes, no doubt. She stood up as her body was shaking and felt the tears shaping in her eyes. She slowly turned around and their red and grey irises met.

Law hasn't have moved an inch from where he was standing when it all started. His mouth was half open and he looked shocked. He never imagined she could be _this_ powerful. And he couldn't stop admiring the way she looked as she turned and face him. She truly looked like an angel as her shining wings were wide open on her shoulders. He finally managed to move his muscles and took a step towards her. He wanted to see her more closely and touch those magical wings on her back.

"Stop!" she suddenly said. He halted confused. She stared at him and a blood colored teardrop traveled down on her cheek.

"Stop! Go! Take that boat and leave!" she said more harshly. Law blinked. "Stop looking at me, Law!"

"Why?" he asked confused. Her red eyes widened and she screamed

"Because _I'm a MONSTER_! What do you mean _why_?!"

Law frowned and continued walking towards her. He only stoped when he was standing right in front of her. He looked down at her face and automatically wiped the crystal red, teardrop. She was frozen in shock. _'What is he doing? Why isn't he running away?!'_ she thought completely confused as she was looking at his hypnotized eyes. He raised his right hand and carefully placed his palm on her wing. It tensed at his touch and shone brighter for a second. Law gasped and looked back at her puzzled, bloody face. He stroked her wing while staring at it's magical colors

"How _beautiful_!" he mumbled, more like he was talking to himself.

Lilou gasped. Her eyes widened in anger and she shouted

"Are you completely INSANE?! What is _beautiful_ about _this_? JUST LEAVE ALREADY! Why are you still here now that you know what I really am?!"

Law stared at her red irises and calmly said "But I knew, Lilou!" she gasped and covered her mouth with her tiny bloody hands. Law carefully grabbed her arm and continued "I knew what you are all along! I mean, I don't know exactly _what_ , but I knew you were different! I... I know you wanted to eat me that night and... I... saw you ate your own arms, instead of me..." his voice dropped and he looked down at his feet "You never mentioned anything about it so I didn't bring it up either. I thought you would say it yourself if you wanted to..." he mumbled.

Lilou couldn't believe her ears. _'How?...'_ How could it be? How could someone make friends with a monster, knowing they could end up being eaten any minute? How could he trust her with his life and keep traveling with her while he knew she was a monster? How could he even think what she is was _beautiful_?! Her heart skipped a beat as she realized how terribly wrong it was from the very beginning, how she was putting his life in danger by being around him. She must always be alone, nothing else. She can't have friends! What was she even thinking, asking him so desperately to be her friend?! And what was _he_ thinking, accepting her and letting her in?! She shook her head and took a step backward.

"You should leave, now. You can't stay around me. It's shameful enough that you seen me like this. _I'm a Ghoul, Law_! You _have to_ stay away from me!" she said staring deep into his eyes.

He frowned at her.

"Ghoul? I don't even know what a Ghoul _is_! But the fact that you actually think being seen as what you are is shameful... _you're such an idiot!_ It's not something to be ashamed of! Haven't you seen yourself?! This is something you should take _pride_ in!" he said harshly as his angry gaze was fixed on her confused face. Her wings slowly vanished into the thin air and her eyes went back to their original light grey color.

"What?..." she whispered shocked "Are you... mocking me?!"

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHY I SAID YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" he shouted angrily "You're stronger than ANYONE I have seen! And there's no one else in the world who could possibly be as glorious as you are in that form! Why would you even think this is shameful? You sound pathetic when you say that! How could it even _be_ shameful to be like this?! How can you bring yourself to ask me to leave?! YOU'RE MY _NAKAMA_!"

Her tears started to fall uncontrollably. He walked forward and hugged her tight. Her eyes were still widened as her face got pressed on his shoulder.

"You can never leave a nakama behind, _you baka_!" he growled.

She pressed her wet eyes on his shoulder and tried to absorb what he was trying to say. Her hanging arms slowly raised and she hugged him back even more tightly.

"You're crazy..." she sobbed.

Law smirked and said "Then it's ok for me to be friends with a Ghoul."

She chuckled, still couldn't believe things turned out this way.

"Let's get going now, Saru." he released her and handed her backpack to her. She wiped her tears and nodded as she weakly smiled at him.

Few hours later on the boat, Law frowned and asked

"So, what exactly _is_ a Ghoul? I know you can only eat human flesh and you're fast and strong and your senses are incredible and you have that wing thing that's like a weapon bu-"

"Kagune." she said. Law raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled and continued "The wing, it's called Kagune. And the thing with my eyes is called Kakugan. That Caesar's failed experiment I told you about, it was named the _Ghoul Project_. He manufactured something called the RC Cells, they're like liquid muscles. When injected into human bodies, they either die or turn into Ghouls. I also have an organ named Kakuhou, it's where the Rc Cells harden and break through my skin and form my Kagune. The shape of Kagune is varied among Ghouls. Mine is an Ukaku Kagune and it's placed in my shoulders. Most parts of my body are immune to any harm unless it's an attack from another Ghoul. Caesar..." she looked down "Made me hunt humans and eat them, he even made me hunt and eat other Ghoul kids in the lab... And he gave me that devil fruit to see if I can survive and have fruit powers as well as being a Ghoul."

Law stared at her in disbelief. _'She's really been through hell!'_

"He kept cutting apart my legs and arms and made me eat Ghoul kids to add speed to the regenerating process. At some point... I just gave up any humane feelings I had and I accepted myself as a ruthless monster. When I was running away, I slaughtered fifty seven of his guards and I felt... nothing. That night you saw me eating my own arms... it was the first time since then that I felt like maybe I'm not... this horrible being I considered myself to be. I don't ever want to kill any innocent person for my own sake..." tears dropped on her knees "But I will definitely chop that bastard in pieces before I die."

 **3 months later**

 **Spider Miles - A port town in North Blue**

"Oi! Wait... Oi Law! You're walking too fast wait! My leg is stuck into this freakin pipe I can't move!"

Law rolled his eyes at her in annoyance. "Didn't I told you not to dance around on those stuff? BAKA!"

"Eeeh? Who are you calling a baka you creepy sadist asshole?" She shouted back at him. "This place looks so much like Grey Terminal, that place back in my homeland, I thought maybe I can find some interesting books in here."

"Well you won't, they're just metal junks now hurry up we already wasted a lot of time all because of that weird _find-criminals-for-food_ phase you suddenly got into!"

"Oi! what about finding those stupid grenades you're covering yourself with like a fuckin' weird jacket? Those shits took us more time than my criminal meals! Plus that was way more useful for us than your stupid grenades! Who's the BAKA here huh?"

"JUST SHUT UP AND GET HERE! YOU'RE A GHOUL FOR FUCK'S SAKE BREAK THAT PIPE ALREADY!"

"Tsk..." She pouted angrily. She twisted her ankle and the pipe shattered into small pieces. She ran after Law and they continued in silence, making their way through the metal junks that were spreading all over the port.

"Law?"

"Hmm..." he mumbled absentmindedly.

"What if they don't take us in?"

Law didn't reply for a minute. This question was bugging him too, ever since they sat foot on this island. _Donquixote Pirates_ were known for their cruelty and their captain's wild nature and ruthlessness. He was the man they were going to meet. Donquixote Doflamingo.

He planned this only a while after his escape. He knew it was the best place for him to reach his dark ambitions. Lilou already slightly knew about them too. Although her purpose was kind of different from Law's, she eagerly accepted when Law told her he wanted to join the Donquixote Pirates. _'I've always wanted to become a pirate anyways.'_ was what she said. But what if they actually refused to accept this pair of troubled kids? _'Well, that's something to worry about after, IF they refused us.'_

"We don't have much to loose anyways. Besides, they'll probably accept you, you're way more stronger than me, the hard work is for me so, don't worry Saru."

"But Law! I wanna stay with _you_! I won't stay with them if they refuse you!" Lilou nagged.

"You're so kind-hearted that it might cause you having trouble reaching your goal, Lilou." he smirked and turned his face away from her. Lilou stared up at him with a serious gaze.

"what's wrong with being kind-hearted? Besides, we're _nakama_ ain't we?"

"Of course we are, Saru."

 **2 months later - With Donquixote Family**

"Lilou! You're not focused! You'll never learn Haki if you keep training like this."

Doflamingo growled at her with a scary expression "Don't rely on your powers as a Ghoul only. Your fruit abilities are extremely important. But if you don't learn how to properly use Haki, they're just going to go to waste. They're useless unless you become a strong Haki user!"

Lilou pouted. She was exhausted. Doflamingo had increased their training sessions to 7 hours a day and was training her personally. He was extremely impressed the first time he saw her with her Kagune activated, and he always valued that part of her, but he believed Lilou had the potential of becoming the most professional spy ever, if she could make the most use out of her fruit abilities. And that could only happen if she perfectly mastered all three types of Haki.

"I _am_ focused! It's just that I _know_ you wouldn't hurt me like a real enemy would and it mak-"

"Oh?! How would you _know_ that?!" he mockingly giggled. In a blink of an eye, he grabbed an axe from the wall and covered it with Armament Haki as he jumped at her from across the hall. Her Kakugan activated. This was new, he was aiming for her eyes!

She felt a massive rush of energy radiating within her body, and she released it all out just a moment before Doflamingo was about to pierce through her left eye with the axe. He halted and struggled to keep his balance for a short moment.

Lilou's eyes widened in shock. The corners of his lips lifted and he let out a loud laughter.

"That's right Hahahaha! That's what I was looking for kid! You almost even got _me_ for a second there!" he laughed out again.

Lilou's eyes turned back to normal as she twinkled the corner of her heart shaped lips.

"I don't know how I did that! I just saw you aiming for my eye and it happened!"

"I know. It was like the first time I saw you unconsciously using Conqueror's Haki. You remember when I told you not many people in the world are being born with that kind of power? Both times you used it, it was due to the feeling of actual danger approaching you. From now on, we're going to focus on training you to use it at your own will." he said with his classic sadistic grin on his face as he turned his back to Lilou and adjusted his pink, puffy feather coat on his shoulders. He placed the axe back on it's place and headed out.

"We'll continue tomorrow morning. I'll expect you to show some good progress, Lilou." the sun reflected on his purple sunglasses as he grinned at her and stood in the door frame.

"Ok..." she said absentmindedly. Doflamingo started to walk out but he stopped again.

"Now... Lilou, one more thing, it's been ten days since you last ate, right?! Get yourself ready for a good meal tonight. You're going to handle those southern idiots who failed to pay their debts in time."

Lilou grinned widely and licked her lips

"Sure thing captain!" she said cheerfully with a sadistic gesture that seemed to become a permanent part of her personality lately.

Doflamingo chuckled and as he left the hall he mumbled "Very well then." he chuckled again.

He never admitted, but everyone in the family clearly knew how this little Ghoul was his favorite person in the whole crew. He saw her as a walking, talking, shiny jewel, even spoiling her like a parent would spoil their child in his own ways. He was fully aware of the extraordinary power she held within her, even as the fatally sick, young kid she was. She was one of a kind, truly unique and brilliant, both in physical and mental matters. The first time she tagged along with them on a mission, they were going to eliminate a pirate crew for they've been failed to remain loyal to Donquixote Family's business terms, and there she was, nearly going crazy at the amount of blood that was sprouting around and tickling her nose, starting to slaughter one man after another with her Kagune activated and her crimson eyes shining with pure excitement. Doflamingo knew exactly how ruthless and monster-like she could be if she was about to run loose. And that was exactly what he was trying to do, making her realize that it's more than alright to be a monster, and that what a delightful future awaited her if only she let go of the shame and guilt she held deep inside her heart for being a Ghoul. He wanted her beside him the day he becomes the king, more than any other of his nakama, even more than the executives. Lilou was something he never wanted to let slip out of his fingers.

And it was already affecting Lilou too. This new lifestyle, this brutal nature that Doflamingo was constantly trying to awaken in her. She was slowly changing into a complete sadist without even realizing it happening to her. She still refused to cause any harm to the innocence, yet when it came to criminals, she wouldn't hold back even a bit. She was turning into a beast as days gone by. Before then, she only killed so she could survive, now she was killing for the joy, the horrified faces, the dying screams, they sent a pleasing shiver down her spine. Part of her knew it was awfully wrong, but the monster inside her was becoming too powerful to be able to be controlled. She didn't even care about the lifes she took, the only one she cared about was Law. Her training sessions with Doflamingo were exhausting even for her strength level, but she took them all without ever complaining. He was a total maniac, a devil in human form, Lilou knew it, she could even smell his insane amount of brutality. But he was accepting her and cherishing what she was. He even ordered the crew's cook to provide her meals with fresh human flesh. Even provided the best medical books for her and Law to study and valued the time they were asking for their medical training. Lilou knew exactly that it was only because of her ruthlessness and uniqueness as a Ghoul, that he treated her like a spoiled child, but she truly didn't care. Long as she could stay with Law under the protection of the Donquixote Pirates, long as she could get stronger, strong enough to destroy Caesar, she wouldn't care about the price, even if the price was turning into a complete monster.

"Truly a fascinating little monster you are becoming, Lilou!" Doflamingo chuckled to himself as he walked down the corridor alone.

* * *

 **So I really wish you're enjoying this story. It's going to be a long one and I'm so excited for the next chapters.**

 **Please feel free to let me know how you're finding it so far, it'd really make me more motivated to continue._**


	3. At the verge

**Author's note: This chapter is mostly canon cause well I'm obsessed with Rosinante _ and I had a great time writing it. And you'll also find out more about Lilou and what she's dealing with.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my OCs.**

* * *

Chapter 3 - At the verge

 **2 years later**

 **With Donquixote Family**

"C'mon we told you our real names you _have to_ tell us yours now." Baby-5 whined as she was swinging her legs from the sidewalk stairs she was sitting on.

"Yeah yeah! You should tell your real names too, or else I'll tell Doflamingo-sama that you stabbed Cora-san that day Law! C'mon tell us already- _dasuyan!"_ Buffalo shouted as he looked excited about having something against Law.

' _Baka!'_ Lilou thought to herself.

"You guys know me and buffalo's real names now what are yours? Eeeh c'mon Lilou! Law!"

"My! What a pain in the ass you are, Baby-5!" Lilou growled, obviously annoyed.

"Fine! We'll tell you!" Law barked with an arrogant look on his face. "We don't go by code names like you, however we have some sorta secret parts in our surnames."

"Yeah, and my whole surname is supposed to be a secret too." Lilou added. "My full name is Monkey D. Lilou."

"And mine is actually Trafalgar D. Water Law. Water is a real name, but the D. is a secret name that's been passing down to generations through the history. We don't know the real meaning of it but-"

Baby-5 huffed with boredom and cut Law's sentence. "Tsk… What _IS_ that? It's not even a bit fun!" and turned her pouting face away. Buffalo hummed in agreement. Law's face turned purple as he yelled at them " _YOU ASKED US IN THE FIRST PLACE!"_ Lilou burst into laughter and started rolling on the ground next to the angry Law. They sharply turned around soon as they heard quick and heavy footsteps behind them.

"Corazo…Aaaaa wait! Wha…"

Next thing, Corazon was grabbing them by their fluffy hats and they were swinging mid air and screaming as he was taking them into an empty and little alley. He dropped them on the floor and turned his back to them.

"OI! Just what do you think you're doing you bastard?" Law yelled at him.

"What do you want Corazon? You wanna fight you mute asshole?!"

" _Was that true?_ "

Lilou and Law froze with confusion for a moment as they heard a stranger voice asked this question. Law turned around and panicked. "HUH?! _Who said that_?"

"Your ' _D_ ' alias. If that's true… You need to get away from Doffy immediately!"

Lilou stood still while she was staring at the back of Corazon's head. The voice came from _his_ side not where Law was looking for it. ' _But he's a mute for God's sake! This kid-hater younger brother of Doflamingo is a fucking MUTE! Could he be-'_ Corazon suddenly turned to face them and yelled in their shocked faces

"LISTEN TO ME! YOU CAN'T BE AROUND HIM!"

Silence. Corazon slowly walked towards a house' staircase and sat down. The kids were still shocked.

"What?! Since when were you are able to TALK…?" Law broke the silence with his trembling voice.

"Since always!"

"You've been… fooling Doflamingo all along?!" Lilou finally talked, she was trying to keep her facial expressions calm but she wasn't very successful.

"I never told anyone that I couldn't talk. They just assumed I was mute on their own." The blonde man said.

" _THAT'S NO DIFFERENT FROM LYING TO THEM ABOUT IT!"_ Law nearly screamed.

"Whoa whoa! Keep it down…" Corazon said and then snapped his fingers. " _SILENCE"_

Everything around them fell into an endless silence and calm.

"Huh?!" Law mumbled in disbelief as he stared at the street. Lilou followed his gaze; People were walking, talking, laughing, children were playing and animals were running around but-

"The sounds of the town disappeared!" Law stated in awe.

"How…?" Lilou asked, "They're talking but I don't hear anything!"

"You were making so much noise, I had to put up a wall."

Lilou turned around and stared at Corazon with her big grey eyes full of questions. He looked back at her.

"It's a sound-proof wall. Notice how none of the outside noise gets in here? Well they can't hear us either."

Law turned around too. Corazon smirked and continued "I have the power of the _CALM-CALM NO MI._ I'm a Silentman!"

Law suddenly yelled out "YOU'VE GOT FRUIT ABILITIES?!"

"GEEZ YOU'RE JUST _FULL_ OF LIES!" Lilou screamed at him.

"WAIT! Don't tell me… ARE THOSE STUPID ACCIDENTS YOU'RE ALWAYS HAVING ARE ACTS TOO…?!"

"Heh heh. You bet kid…" He smirked at them and continued as the shoulder of his dark purple feather coat caught fire by the tip of his cigarette "All an act."

"LIAR! YOUR SHOULDER'S _ON FIRE!_ " Law and Lilou Screamed at the same time.

He started killing the fire. After a couple minutes he said

"I've been clumsy my whole life. It'll never get better. I'm just a big ol' klutz."

"SHUT UPPP! _THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING ABOUT YOU IS THE ONLY PART THAT'S TRUE!"_ They screamed together again.

"Why have you been hiding these from your nakama?!" Lilou shouted at him.

"They're not my nakama. My only purpose here… is to stop my brother Doffy from running loose."

Corazon's bright brown eyes fixed on them. "I still can't understand… How such a monster could be born from our kind-hearted and loving parents. He's _inhuman!_ He was born evil and knows no bounds! The only ones who know the depth of Doffy's true brutal nature, are the four executives, including me… And Vergo, the first Corazon."

"Vergo?" Law mumbled.

"A powerful man acting separately from the family on his own Top-Secret mission. Even _we_ don't know about his mission…"

He looked at the Question-Mark-Shaped faces of Law and Lilou.

"He has nothing to do with you."

They still looked so confused.

"You can't become a monster like my brother Law! Get away from here, BOTH OF YOU!"

"I'm not going to leave! That's what I _want_ to be!" Law shouted at him again.

" _You have the SECRET NAME OF D. ! That means you are two of the fateful few, the PEOPLE OF THE D. !"_

Lilou looked at him interested "What do you mean? Do you know what it means?"

"Back in my hometown, children were scolded into behaving by this threat… ' _If you don't behave, you'll be eaten up by a D.' "_

He took a drag from his cigarette "Every once in while, there have been people with the name of D. who gained public notoriety… And elderly would all frown and mutter… _'D. WILL SURELY BRING US ANOTHER STORM'!_ "

Law stood still shocked for a second then he snapped

"What's that mean?! ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE MONSTERS OT SOMETHING?!" he was surrounded by an angry and confused aura around him.

"Maybe. No one knows the truth." Corazon stated calmly "But the name lives on in the dark shadows of history around the world!"

He gazed at them cold and serious "In one area, the family of D. are known as… _Sworn enemy of the Gods."_

"GODS?!"

"Sworn enemy?" Lilou felt her heart skipped a beat.

"If you consider The Celestial Dragons as "Gods" in this case… Then perhaps your people's goal is the very _destruction of this world!"_ he paused "But it's completely different in meaning, from what Doffy is going for! D.'s must have a philosophy, that's opposed to the God's."

Law clenched his fists and his body started to shake in anger. Lilou knew he was completely loosing his temper now.

"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! I CAME TO JOIN THE FAMILY SO I COULD KILL EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING AS VIOLENTLY AS POSSIBLE!… And I'm not YOUR subordinate, I'm DOFLAMINGO's subordinate!" Law yelled at the calm Corazon still sitting in front of them. Lilou was shaking too. She was angry, more that she ever has been.

"JUST WHAT SHOULD WE DO IF WE LEAVE?! WE'RE GONNA DIE IN A YEAR OR SO ANYWAYS!"

She shouted at Corazon, and looked at Law from the corner of her eyes.

When they first met, he only had a white spot on his chest, but now, they were bigger and covered almost all of his body; His back, his hands, his legs, even his face.

Her own condition was no better than him. She knew exactly what was happening to her, it was just as she read in her medical file. The error in Caesar's experiment caused the few human cells which were still residing in her body to fight with the Rc cells, and eventually overcoming them by completely destroying her organs from inside. Her body had already began to reject the Rc cells and was self-destructing itself in a painful and slow way. She had unbearable rushes of pain in her body more often. She was coughing blood and lately she's been loosing her vision completely from the headache. Her lungs was also troubled, as some nights, she couldn't breathe at all, so Law would have to keep pressing her chest for several minutes until she could breathe again. Afterall, her existence as a Ghoul was a drastic error in the flow of nature, and the nature was simply trying to erase the error.

It was clear! They were hopeless…!

"Get out of here and look for a cure." Corazon stated calmly.

"THERE IS _NONE!"_ she looked back quickly " LAW!"

He was running out of the alley with a sadistic grin on his face. "I'm Gonna tell Doflamingo all about your fake silence and your fruit power and everything!" he shouted back happily.

Corazon stood and started running after him, his eyeballs were about to fall out from this sudden backfire.

"NO! DON-"

"He'll do worse than just kick you out I BET!" Law continued while running. Lilou started to run after them. She did hate Corazon too! But Law was acting completely irrational.

"Law! LAW WAIT A MINUTE! LAW! wait for me Law!" she screamed out and started to run after him. A sharp strike of pain suddenly hit her chest and she shrieked in pain as she fell on the ground.

" _YOU LITTLE BRAT!"_ Corazon shouted after him and raised his leg to kick Law's head but Law sharply dodged and turned around. Then he pushed Corazon by his knee as he was slipping and threw him into the huge trash can beside them. Corazon fell into it upside down.

"I've become a lot stronger after this two years you sucker! Hahahaha!" Law shouted again with that sick grin still on his face.

He ran away as Corazon's cigarette sat fire to the whole trash can with him stuck in it. Law was running too fast, ignoring Lilou's callings. Lilou barely managed to get back on her feet and started to run again.

She was about to catch up with him when all of a sudden she completely lost sight of him as she entered the main street.

" _Dammit"_ she gasped. she then turned away and started running to the port where the Donquixote Pirates' ship was docked. ' _That's where he'll be that damned crazy Law!'_ She wasn't sure why but she just knew that what he was about to do was wrong! She never liked Corazon, he was mean and beating them all the fucking time, but just a few minutes ago he _trusted them!_ She could clearly tell that he was worried about them as well. Why else would he jeopardize his position in the family just to warn them? He was a spy, that was for sure, but… _'Could he be… A Navy officer?! I don't think Law paid much attention to this part when Corazon was speaking, he was so confused and focused on his anger, but, dammit! He HATES the Navy! That bastard literally tried to save our asses and Law is already going to expose him! What if he finds out Corazon's in the Navy too?!'_

"Aaaaaa DAMMIT LAAAAAWWWW!" she yelled out loud as she kept running full-speed to the port, trying to ignore the pain.

 _There he was! Coming DOWN the ship's stairs!_ Did he already ratted Corazon out and told Doflamingo everything?

Lilou pressed her chest and heaved for air as her heart was literally beating in her mouth.

"L-Law… Wha-"

"What's wrong, Lilou?" Law asked calmly, gazing at her with his dead serious, steel grey eyes.

"What did you do? Law?!" she said with a trembling voice. He came down, grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the ship. Not saying a word, just staring straight forward with his emotionless eyes. They stopped under the shadow of the ship's pink, flamingo-shaped, heading. Law looked at her for a minute, looking like he was fighting a war in his head behind those calm eyes of his.

"I didn't tell Doflamingo." He stated.

Lilou was relieved, not that her face showed anything but a cold expression, but she truly was.

"How come?"

"I just remembered he covered for us that day, after you lured him down and I stabbed him… We can call it even now. We don't owe anything to him anymore." he nodded his head. That was right. ' _So he's not a complete ungrateful stupid demon, I see'_ she thought to herself and smirked.

"Corazon!"

They both looked up at the deck. It was Doflamingo's tall figure, standing in his pink feather coat staring down at his shocked little brother from behind his purple sunglasses. Corazon was standing next to the stairs with hesitation. Lilou could smell his fear, he must've thought Law already exposed him to his older brother.

"Where have you been? I was looking for you. Hurry and come up to the ship."

Corazon was still standing there frozen. Doflamingo frowned and continued

"We're setting sail now! It's Tsuru again! The Navy ships must arrive any minute now! Come on let's prepare to leave… Hurry up! Corazon!"

He turned his back to him and left their sight.

Law and Lilou started to walk towards him with their arms crossed on their chests.

"I decided not to tell him, Corazon." Law smirked as Corazon's head turned to face them. "I remembered we owe you one, for not telling Doflamingo about us trying to kill you two years ago."

Law started to go up the stairs with a mocking smile on his face. Corazon was staring at them in disbelief. Lilou tucked her hands into her spotted pink shorts' pockets and walked up after Law. She stopped for a second and faced Corazon.

"We're even now, Corazon." she smirked and continued walking to the ship.

"HURRY UP! LET'S SINK THEM ALREADY!" Gladius shouted at the crew as the Vice-Admiral Tsuru's warship was right next to them, firing at their ship.

Doflamingo looked around and growled "Hey! Where is Corazon? I can't see my brother anywhere."

"I saw him get on board after Law and Lilou." Gladius answered his captain.

"They're not here _either._ Someone go find them." Doflamingo ordered.

"Young Master."

Doflamingo turned and looked at Senor Pink while he was walking towards him under the stormy rain. He handed him a piece of paper.

"I found this on Corazon's hammock."

He grabbed the wet paper. It was just a really short note.

' _I'M LEAVING TO GO CURE LILOU AND LAW'S DISEASES'_

"They packed their things and left, it seems." Senor Pink added.

Doflamingo frowned. " _What is he thinking_?!" he growled.

 **At the same time**

 **On a rescue boat in the sea**

Lilou slowly opened her eyes. She felt dizzy. Someone was annoyingly shouting and screaming above her head. Jeez, it was Law!

"AAAAAA… This is kidnapping! CORAZON!"

She turned and looked around. They were both wrapped up with thick ropes. Law was sitting horrified next to her and Corazon at the other side of the boat, calmly scanning the pages of one of the many books piled up before his feet.

"CORAZON! You JERK! I'll make you pay for this! Oi! Say something! Oii!" Law yelled again.

Lilou lifted herself up and sat. She remained silent as she surveyed the books. Some of them were medical books, others looked like data books about hospitals and medical sites. ' _Just what is he up to?'_ she wasn't angry, she felt uncomfortable with all the pointless ropes around her and being kidnapped and all, but she thought it's useless and stupid to scream and shout like Law! She could escape, but she would have to kill Corazon, and that didn't sound like a pleasant job in her mind, she just didn't quite want to kill this man. Even if she did, how were they supposed to find Doflamingo again? They would end up back in the first place, all alone, with no place to call home and no one to train them-

~~ _Puru Puru Puru Puru…Puru Puru Puru Pur-~~_

"Den-Den Mushi… Is it Doflamingo?" Law shouted again "Hey! Pick up the Den-Den Mu-"

"Shut up, Law." Lilou said with boredom. Law looked at her angrily. He opened his mouth to yell at her but stopped by Lilou's cold voice

"It's not like he'll let us go or we can find the ship anyways. So why don't you stop screaming like a cry baby? You're giving me a headache!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"I said stop whining already YOU BAKA!"

"Eeeh?! WHO'RE YOU CALLING A BAKA YOU NOISY MONKEY?"

" _NOISY MONKEY?!_ NOW WHO'S BEEN THE NOISY ONE UP UNTIL NOW YOU UGLY SADIST?!"

"SHUT UP! YOU BEAST-"

"WHY DON'T _YOU_ SHUT UP ASSHO-"

"-Roger that. I'll send you the details in writing." _~~Clank~~_

Law and Lilou completely quieted down as Corazon's voice caught their attention. He ended his conversation on the Den-Den Mushi with whomever it was. ' _He ignored Doflamingo's call earlier. And he was TALKING to someone! Was he talking to the Navy just now?!'_ Lilou thought. Law's eyes widened.

"Who were you talking to right now?! Wait! I heard you said something about _duty!_ … WAIT! You're not in _the Navy_ , are you?!" Law snapped.

"Do you hate the Navy?" Corazon asked casually.

" _ANYTHING INVOLVED WITH THE GOVERNMENT MAKES ME SICK!"_ Law yelled as loud as he could.

"I'm not in the Navy."

"Ehh, Corazon…" Lilou said, narrowing her eyes "What are you going to do with us?"

"Cure your diseases." he answered as calm as ever "We'll go to every hospital we can."

"I TOLD YOU _THEY_ _CAN'T BE CURED!"_

 **6 Months later**

"Corazon…"

"What's wrong Lilou? Did I wake you?"

It was past midnight. Law and Lilou were laying next to a small fire at edge of a jungle not so far from the shore. Corazon was leaning at a rock as he was drinking from his bottle of sake and going through the many maps in front of him.

"No… I wasn't asleep…" she sat up carefully so she wouldn't wake Law and stared at Corazon for a moment. It was one of those nights that she was feeling a bit better.

"Why don't you sleep? You need to rest. We have a long way to go tomorrow." he said calmly.

She slowly went up and walked towards Corazon. She then stood there and stared at him with her sleepy grey eyes.

"Umm… Corazon?"

"What is it, Lil-"

"Could you hug me for few minutes?" the little Ghoul asked with childish shyness. His eyes widened in disbelief. He always assumed these two stubborn kids hated him beyond words for all the trouble he was putting them through. This truly was a surprise.

"Sure kid, of course I can!" he smiled at her as his eyes were shining from happiness.

Lilou nodded and crawled over his chest and made herself comfortable.

"Arigatō." she said while wrapping herself in his soft black feather coat.

"You really like this coat don't you?" he laughed amused with this tiny child laying in his arms.

"Mhm… It's so soft and it smells good. Like firewood and leafs and cities and cotton candy. It smells like… freedom…" she almost whispered the last part.

"Freedom…?" he asked with slight curiosity.

She shook her head in positive response. Then looked at the maps spreading around Corazon on the ground.

"What are you doing with these maps, Corazon?"

"Planning our next stops." he answered then drank another mouthful of his sake. "Why are you keeping yourself awake tonight Lilou? You look exhausted, you need to rest. We'll probably cross by a gangster neighborhood tomorrow. We can wander inside and get you some food."

She didn't reply for a minute. She was chewing her lower lip and looked so deep in her thoughts.

"I'm feeling a bit better tonight, I… I don't wanna miss the chance of feeling alive and seeing the world to sleeping… I… might not get another one."

His heart skipped a beat. What was she talking about? ' _She's still just a kid for God's sake, why does she have to think about things like this! She haven't done anything to deserve this!'_ he thought.

"Just what are you talking about? LILOU? Off course you will! I said I will find a cure for both you and Law _and I definitely will!"_

She remained silent for several minutes.

"Corazon? Can you promise me something?" she suddenly asked whispering.

"Anything Lilou, what is it?"

"If… if by any chance I died before we find a cure, promise me… that no matter what, you will save Law! Ok?… I thought about this a lot, If I die now, I know I will die happy, because I would know that my brothers are still in this world and if I could, I would be able to come back to them again, and besides, I'm a Ghoul, the world is probably better off without me living in it, but… Law… he's got no one to return to, he doesn't have a home or family or friends anymore. He _has_ _got to live!_ He _has_ _to_ grow up and find those things again. So… promise me, Corazon! Promise you will save his life!"

Corazon froze in shock of what she just said, and a few meters away, Law's eyes were popping out from what he was hearing, he was a light sleeper after all, and he was completely awake and shocked at that very moment. ' _Just how many times are you gonna surprise me with that kind heart of yours, you little beast?!'_ Law thought to himself as he was struggling not to scream and tell her to stop talking like she actually believes he's life could be saved!

"I promise you, Lilou." Corazon said with a steady voice as he was trying to hold back his tears. She giggled and not long after, she fell asleep peacefully in Corazon's arms, leaving the other two falling deep in their thoughts in awe.

Corazon, Lilou and Law visited every hospital in any town they could reach in the past 6 months, and it was always the same thing happening over and over again. The doctors couldn't even understand Lilou's disease and right after they saw Law, the whole hospital was falling into chaos and fear of the survivor of the White City. Then Corazon cursed the doctors, beat them up and set the room on fire, or Lilou got mad jumping on them trying to bit off their flesh and bones, and then they moved forward to the next hospital. It happened so many times that it became the routine of their lives after the first 2 months.

Lilou used to count the hospitals they were visiting at first, but then the number became too large and she got so weak and close to death that she lost the numbers. She knew she was going to die soon, much sooner than she predicted. And Law was no better than her, he was reaching his limit too. But Corazon just didn't give it up, he was refusing to accept or even hear that there was no cure.

Lilou looked up at Corazon's determined face through her painfully heavy eyelids. It was mid afternoon and snow was falling on them like it was trying to bury them in itself. They were climbing up a hill through the knee high(Corazon's tall legs knee high) snow that was covering the ground beneath them. She was holding on to Corazon's shirt as she was wrapped in a blanket attached to a waistband that went around his body. Law was wearing a heavy cloak, wrapping his weak hands around Corazon's neck as a rope went around his waist and Corazon's shoulders to keep him from falling off.

"Cora-zo-" Lilou tried to call him but she got shut down by dry coughs that left a taste of blood in her mouth _'Human blood. I can't even digest flesh anymore.'_ Corazon lowered his head.

"What is it, Lilou. Don't push yourself, we're almost there, doctors in the next hospital will _definitely_ cure both of you." he said with a warm look in his eyes. Law clenched his teeth and tried to pull himself up on Corazon's back.

"Corazon, not only have we not gotten cured, but I'm at my limit." Law said as his face was twisting in pain. _'He sure is right about that.'_ Lilou thought as she stared at him on the verge of unconsciousness.

"And Lil's condition is even wors-"

"Stop whining! You'll get cured in the next one as I said!" Corazon arrogantly responded "It's _either find the cure or death!_ Your lives are on the edge now… STAY STRONG!"

Hours later, next hospital, this one didn't even let them in!

A mad man carrying two kids, one with the Amber Lead Disease and the other one is a monster who bits everyone and has an unknown fatal disease, going from one hospital to another causing damage and fire and doctors got beaten up? sure thing everyone knew about them by now!

It was a chilly night on a rocky cliff above the sea and Corazon was sitting by the edge of the cliff, drinking more than he usually did. He was desperate, completely and totally desperate. He never doubted that they would finally find cures to save these two poor souls he was carrying around the seas for 6 months. But now they were just desperately running out of life before his eyes. ' _Not only have we not gotten cured, but I'm at my limit!'_ Law's voice echoed in his head. He threw all his maps and papers in the air in distress and drank another mouthful of his sake.

"What am I doing…?" he asked himself with a trembling voice. "I've been repeatedly making these traumatized poor souls to relive the tragedy… And neither of them hasn't gotten any better…"

Few meters behind him, Law and Lilou were sleeping on a piece of cloth with their blanket being twisted under their feet. The sound of their breathing was mixed with the sound of the waves beneath Corazon's swinging legs. Lilou mumbled something in her sleep and turned her back to Law who was peacefully sleeping on his back. There was a slight cold breeze in the air and they were both wearing hoodies that Corazon bought them from the last town. Law's was yellow and Lilou's was pink with purple spots on the sleeves. Corazon's heart was literally melting when he found those hoodies, imagining how cute the two would look in those intact and trending clothes. He was trying his best to ease the pain they were in for them, even if it was by doing such a simple task like buying them new outfits.

"Am I doing it for the 'D.'?" he asked himself again. "No… I don't care about that anymore."

He stood up and slammed the bottle to the ground and pressed his eyes while listening to the sound of the scattering pieces of glass.

"I have… I have been feeling sorry for them…" his voice was shaking.

He turned and started walking to their fragile sleeping figures with unsteady steps.

"I'm sure you don't want… this idiot who just keeps hurting you… to say something like this but…"

He sat down on his knees beside them and pulled up their blanket and tucked them into it with his hands trembling like his voice.

"You're still rude _little_ _kids_ …" he placed his big hand on Law's pale cheek and as Law slowly turned his back to him in sleep

"…and hearing you say ' _I'll die soon'_ is… heartbreaking…" he pulled his hand back and felt the tears shaping in his eyes.

"You… stabbed me… that day but…" he cried out "… it didn't hurt at all!… I know you were the ones who were in pain!… _You poor things!…_ Lilou… Law!"

His teardrops were falling on Law's fluffy hat. He stood up and left their side with his unsteady steps and just after a moment he tripped and passed out as he fell down.

Lilou was clenching her teeth, trying to stay quiet as tears were running like a river from her big eyes. Her heart was breaking from the amount of pain this kind-hearted man was in, just because of herself and Law. She turned around only to face Law's crying face before hers. They sobbed in silence as their grey eyes met, until they fell asleep again with mixed feelings of disbelief, agony and a painful sort of gratitude.

"Cora- _san_ …" Law called as he stood in front of the sleeping figure of Corazon. "Oi, Cora- _san!"_ he almost shouted.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Law's grumpy face. He was standing next to Lilou who was holding a ladle in her hand.

"Breakfast is ready Cora- _san_." she said. Corazon leaned up seating straight as his jaw awfully fell down and his eyeballs turned as big as the size of two apples popping out of his head.

" _WHAT IS THAT FACE?!"_ Lilou and Law yelled in his face at the same time.

"You just called me Cora-san…" he said whispering still shocked.

"Shut up and eat breakfast!" Law yelled again. Lilou started to laugh cheerfully at Corazon's ridiculous face. He smiled and blushed with happiness.


	4. Tragedies happen, life goes on

**Author's note: Thank you for the follows, favorites and reviews. They mean a lot to me and they literally make me go like SANJI MODE:ON [heartspoppingouttamyeyes]**

 **Disclamer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my OCs.**

* * *

Chapter 4 - Tragedies happen, life goes on

"Aaaah it's getting chilly! finally!." Lilou said cheerfully and inhaled the cold breeze. She placed Corazon's purple feather coat on her shoulders and walked out of the cabin of their boat.

"We're finally gonna do it, Cora-san! We're gonna live the life you gave us to it's fullest!" she whispered to herself as she smiled at his name tattooed on her slender fingers.

It was finally time, they were going to buy that submarine they've been saving money for at the next island. Soon they could start their journey to the Grand Line, as the _Heart Pirates_.

It's been seven years since that tragedy, since Corazon sacrificed his life to save theirs, since he stole the _Ope-Ope No Mi_ and fed it to Law, since that bastard, Doflamingo, emptied his pistol on him, on his own brother, on Corazon.

Lilou closed her eyes as she remembered his face ' _Hold my coat for a little while, Lil. Take care of it for me ok?'_ his voice echoed in her head. They say when somebody leaves, the first thing about them vanishing from one's mind, is their voice. Lilou giggled at this stupid saying. She could recall Corazon's voice as if he was standing right in front of her talking, smiling. She could see his face with all it's details whenever she closed her eyes. She could remember his last smile as he was closing the chest Law and her was hiding in. How could someone possibly forget such things ? The day she forgets all this, would definitely be the day she's dead, there's no other way.

Seven years ago, after they escaped that damned island, they took their little boat and ran to one of the neighboring islands. Law spent every day and night practicing for weeks, until he managed to use the ope-ope no mi powers to cure himself, and then Lilou. The treatment however left her with some side effects, none of them were actually troublesome since she still had her Ghoul part intact and her fruit abilities as well. But her physical strength as a Ghoul was no longer immune from the effects of the _Sea Prism Stone_. Not that she cared much though, it was miraculous enough for her to know she would be able to live. Sometime during their time on Swallow island, they met Bepo, Shachi and Penguin. The five became inseparable until this day.

They weren't all alone anymore, they lived on, as Corazon wanted them to.

Lilou narrowed her sharp eyes at north direction. She could see the silhouette of their destined island.

"Hey Lil! Bepo says we'll arrive in less than an hour. Make sure not to leave any of your stuff behind."

She turned and met Law's tan face. She twinkled her nose and sniffed him. Law frowned and backed off.

"What're you doing?! You ate a full human yesterday!" he said and his body tensed. Lilou chuckled and said

"And you have the delightful smell of two different women on you, when did you become so perverted, Law?!" she teased and laughed out. His eyes widened

" _Mind your own damn business you weirdo!_ " he shouted annoyed and turned his back to her.

"I'm seeing the island right in front of us by the way!" Lilou shouted and chuckled again as he kept walking away and ignored her.

His frown remained on his face as he walked to where others were. ' _What's so funny?! That damned freak! I washed my body more than three times, WHAT IS WITH THAT NOSE?!'_ he thought annoyed and huffed.

"What's with the gloomy mood, captain?" Penguin said cheerfully as he saw Law walking towards them. He growled and didn't answer. Shachi laughed out

"Oh I know! He's sad cause Lilou-chan will leave in two weeks and won't be back for a month!" he said playfully and grabbed his chest in a dramatic way like his heart was aching. The two laughed out and continued on their silliness about Law's suffering and heartbreak due to his dear Lilou's absence.

Law sat on the railings and sent a deadly gaze at them.

"You know she can hear you. Don't give her an excuse or she'll gobble you up before you know it." he coldly stated and watched them in amusement as they shivered and fell silent.

They were right though, he _was_ stressed about her trip to that Navy base in East Blue. He knew she could handle it better than anyone else, but they have been together for nine years now, and it was the first time she was going to leave for so long. Before that, she would only leave for not more than a week or two, sneaking around low ranked Navy soldiers gathering information, spying in pirate ships or hunting.

Her training sessions with Doflamingo turned out to be quite handy as they got older and involved in more serious matters. In fact, there were only two matters; Avenging Corazon's death from Doflamingo, and One Piece.

Lilou stole the map of the Grand Line from some big-name pirates, or as she mentioned, her _lunch box_ , when she was 14. Afterwards, she obsessively kept spying on Doflamingo's every movement. She couldn't use her fruit powers to make a _mind tunnel_ between herself and Doflamingo, he already knew all about her powers and was constantly blocking her with his Haki. She could still track his whereabouts perfectly, though, it became nearly useless soon as he became a Shichibukai. Law was obsessed with him too. Both of them seemed to care about their revenge even more than the One Piece treasure. Their nakama knew about it as well and were ready to do anything to help them, however, Law and Lilou decided long ago, that when the day comes, they definitely wouldn't drag them down along with themselves, for they knew they might lose their lives while doing it.

Lilou of course, had another target as well. Caesar Clown. Most of her spying trips revolved around getting any kind of information about Caesar and Doflamingo. And she couldn't find much from low ranked soldiers, she needed to get into the Navy HQ in the Grand Line. Until then, she planned to sneak into every single one of the Navy's most important bases in four Blues. And there was only one left, the East Blue base, which was where she was going in two weeks.

They decided that Law and the others should continue on their route to the Reverse Mountain while she was gone, and she would catch up with them in a month.

Law took a deep breath and turned his face to Bepo, his favorite polar bear from the Mink Tribe, who was carefully reading a map as _Sakura_ , Lilou's huge, pink bird was sleeping on his lap.

"Bepo."

He looked at Law and said "What is it captain?"

"Would you buy some waterproof color when we get there? We should paint our jolly roger on our sub."

Bepo gave him a wide cheerful grin "Sure thing!"

"Huh!? Does any of you can even paint?" Shachi said raising an eyebrow at them. Law placed his nodachi on his shoulder as he stood up from the railings "We'll just ask someone to paint it there."

"Hey hey hey hey! _I can paint_!" Penguin shouted annoyed "You guys seem to have no clue about my painting skills!" he pouted and moved his cap which had the word 'PENGUIN' printed on it on his blonde hair.

"Yeah well you talk so much that we actually ignore most of your blabbering. We must've missed this valuable piece of information about you while doing so." Shachi casually said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU BAKA?!"

"EEEH? WATCH YOUR MOUTH YOU BRAINLESS SEAWEED!"

"I'LL KICK YOUR FUCKING ASS SHACHI YOU BASTARD!"

Sakura opened her round golden eyes and looked at the always fighting pair with annoyance. " _Rouuu!_ " she puffed her wings and called out with a high tone.

"Aaah you waked Sakura! Stay quiet she's resting here!" Bepo calmly said.

"BRING IT ON SEAWEED!"

The three kept arguing as Law walked away from them quietly. Routine. He smirked in amusement and walked to the other end of the boat, where Lilou was still standing. He leaned his nodachi at the railings then sat down and leaned his body against them as well. He rested his head on his crossed arms and looked up at Lilou's standing figure. She was still really fragile. As kids, they used to have few inches of height difference, but now the tip of her head would barely reached his chest even if she stretched herself. She was holding that picture in her hands again.

"I wonder when will I meet them again, Law!" she said calmly, but her voice was keeping slight tracks of excitement.

Law hummed absentmindedly "Probably soon." he nearly whispered "Fire Fist Ace-ya is already out there, somewhere in the seas."

"And I know Luffy is already out there too. We were supposed to set sail on our 17th birthday. He has been out for at least a month now, I guess..." she took a deep breath "He must think I'm dead..."

She grabbed her arm. The letter were tattooed on her left arm vertically, one of the two Ls designed upside down so it matched with the other one like a vertical rectangular. The back of her both hands and all her fingers were covered in tattoos too, letters of the word 'HEART' tattooed on her right fingers and the letters of 'CORAZON' tattooed on each phalanx of her left ones with a simple black heart on the bottom phalanx of her index. On her chest she had their smiley jolly roger surrounded by a heart, right above her perky breasts. Similar to Law's chest tattoo but smaller in size. He smirked as he remembered the day two years ago, when they decided to tattoo each other's bodies.

"You have a bounty poster Saru, it released three weeks ago, I'm sure they seen it by now."

She giggled and sat down next to him.

"Well Ace probably does. But Luffy doesn't really pay attention to things such as news. I'm sure he has no idea." she laughed out cheerfully. Law narrowed his steel grey eyes

"Not possible! You were all over the news after that havoc you wrecked in the south base! A 70 million bounty is not that common for someone who hasn't even been to the Grand Line yet, let aside the fact that it's your _first_ bounty!" he said in disbelief.

"It's like I said, he doesn't pay attention at all. He wouldn't possibly know about it unless someone directly tells him something like _hey have you seen this? It's your sister, she's not dead and she's a monstrous spy and a wanted pirate!_ " she said as she tucked the picture into her armband again.

Law frowned and looked away. He knew she was aware of the fact that from now on, both of her brothers would technically be considered as potential enemies since both of them were pirates, like themselves. She always said that Luffy is the man who will become the Pirate King, and she wasn't just saying it, she seemed to deeply have faith it in it. And it bothered Law, they were after the same thing after all, and he couldn't help but worrying what will be her decision, where will her loyalty lay, if she was to choose between him and Luffy in the end.

Aside from that, her 70 million bounty was worrying him even more. Marines and bounty hunters already been after them. His own 20 million bounty wasn't that much of a problem since they were about to travel in the sub, but Lilou was going to be away from them most of the time, and the World Government seemed to be extremely obsessed with her already, especially after her reckless rampage in the South Blue Marine base. Not that her power were exaggerated though, people fear anything that is unknown to them, and a man-eating Ghoul was definitely an unknown mystery. To be fair, it was a reasonable amount for a Ghoul/Spy/Pirate Captain, as Lilou and Law both held the position of crew's captain, her actual alias was _the Black Siren, Absent Captain of The Heart Pirates_ , and Law's was _the Surgeon Of Death, Captain of the Heart Pirates_.

As odd as it was for a pirate crew to have two captains, it was what both of them really wanted from the beginning. After all, they started their journey as equals, and they definitely wanted to keep it that way through any situation.

Two hours later, they were all packed and ready, standing in the port waiting for the seller to show up.

"Aaaah... I'm getting bored!" Lilou nagged and threw her arms on Sakura's back "Where's that ossan? We've been waiting for half an hour now!"

"We arrived earlier than the scheduled time. It's about time he shows up Lilou-chan." Penguin smiled at her.

"Oh? Look! Bepo is coming back with the colors and... what's he walking with?!" Shachi narrowed his eyes at their left side. They all turned to see what was he talking about. Bepo was walking towards them with two buckets of waterproof color in his furry white paws and beside him was a...

"Is that a huge _dango ball?!_ " Penguin asked confused.

"It smells like human! What the heck the guy looks like a walking takoyaki!" Lilou said and twisted her eyebrows.

"That's Fussen-ya, the seller of the sub." Law calmly announced.

"Fuusen(=balloon)?!" Lilou raised one eyebrow at him.

" _Fussen it's Fussen!_ I told you his name before!" Law growled at her annoyed.

Shachi narrowed his eyes at Fussen

"It's not that different anyways, he _is_ a fuusen!"

"Eeeeh? He's a funny-looking ossan! Nice job Law!" Lilou laughed out amused.

"WELCOME MY DEAR CHILDREN!"

They all slightly jumped as he nearly screamed at them with an unbelievably high voice. Fussen opened his arms as he reached them and bowed in a hilarious manner. He was incredibly round and short. The buttons of his orange long suit seemed like they would pop open any second on his rounded belly. The sun was reflecting on his bald head that somehow looked awfully small on his huge body. He curled the tip of his grey mustache and smiled at them.

"Fussen-ya." Law nodded at him.

"Aaaah Law-kun! So great seeing you again! These must be the rest of your nakama. And... My!"

Fussen bowed again in front of Lilou as he pulled out a red rose from his sleeve and handed it to her "What a blissful day it is, having a breathtaking young lady such as yourself here, Black Siren my dear."

Law hardened his grip around his nodachi and tried to control himself not to cut the old man in half. Lilou laughed out loud childishly and said

"You're such a perverted funny ossan, Fussen-kun! Hahahahaha!" his face turned red at her bluntness "Thank you, this rose is very beautiful." she chuckled.

"Oh you're welcome dear, no rose could hold enough beauty in the presence of a magnificent lady like you." he politely answered, obviously offended by her blunt statement and obviously knowing about Lilou well enough not to talk back to her.

Law smirked in amusement. Classic Lilou, painfully blunt and never even seemed to consider it rude when it came to speaking her mind.

"I ran into Fussen-kun in the west port, he was telling me about the Polar Tang's navigating system." Bepo said.

"Ah yes, I was telling Bepo-san about the splendid work my talented boys did on this special submarine you have your eyes on." Fussen proudly said, then he turned around and called two of the engineers working on a little engine boat. They immediately left. He turned back to them and cheerfully said

"My boys will bring the Polar Tang here in a minute."

"Very well." Law nodded politely "We'll pay you after we checked the inside of the sub one last time. I hope it's ok with you."

"Of course my dear, of course. The interior design in slightly changed from the last time you visited however. Since you mentioned you need advanced operation equipments, we designed a super high quality operating room with latest medical and operation systems for you. I believe you'll find it quite fitting once you see it." his chest swelled with pride as he saw their impressed faces.

"Wooowww that's _awesome_!" Lilou said with sparkling eyes. She fisted her tiny hands with excitement "I can't wait to check it out it sounds SO COOL!"

Fussen smiled at her delightfully and a moment after, a deep roaring sound came from under the water in front of them.

"OH HERE THEY COME!" Fussen screamed excited and made them jump again.

Two yellow metal masts appeared on the water and the submarine started to surface gently. It had the size of a regular ship, and the shape somehow reminded Lilou of a giant fish since it had a fish-like fin at the end, it was colored green in the front and yellow in the back and was completely made out of metal, except for the upper decks which were made of wood, and there were two tall masts on both the front and back levels. Circular windows line the craft and lights that resembled street-lamps on the outside in order to allow sight underwater. After it surfaced completely, a heavy metal door on the upper deck opened and the two engineers from before came out and threw the ladder down for them.

"Anytime you wish dears." Fussen opened his arm at Polar Tang's direction and said.

Bepo put the buckets on the ground and said "I've seen the interior before. I'll stay here with Sakura."

"Alright. We won't take long." Law said "Lilou stick to the group plea-"

"WOWWW IT'S SO SO PRETTY AND YELLOW!" Lilou shouted as she already ran off and jumped high straight on the deck ignoring the ladder. Law sighed and followed after Penguin and Shachi ' _Of course she won't stick!'_.

By the time they got to the infirmary Lilou has had already checked the whole sub inch by inch three times. She tagged along with Law and others and almost jumped instead of walk as they headed out. Lilou and Law were more than pleased by the job the designers did with the infirmary.

After several minutes of bargaining, Fussen finally agreed on 980 million berries. Of course it costed way much more but he didn't fail to understand how dangerous his customers actually were and he absolutely didn't want to make the surgeon of death and black siren angry over the price. ' _They're pirates anyways. Nothing less to be expected.'_ he thought to himself while he waved at them with a fake smile as they started to take off with the sub.

Penguin already took his time and plastered their jolly roger on the exterior while the others were busy with their bargaining.

"I CALL THE QUEEN CHAMBERS!" Lilou shouted with a wide D shaped grin as the five of them plus Sakura were gathered in the navigating room.

"You can't just _call_ the biggest room in the sub! You can't possibly have that much stuff and you're not even here to use it most of the time! AND it's not even called _the queen chambers_ to begin with!" Law barked at her with annoyance.

"Of course I _can_! Plus, I already put my stuff in there so it's officially mine. I'm gonna use it as my room and my office at the same time, and..." she grabbed Law's shoulders and as she was hanging from his tall figure continued " _It has a super cute private bathroom Law!_ " her face was shining with joy as she tried to pull an innocent impression on him. He frowned and pushed her off his body.

"Fine." he growled "Then I'll take the room down the corridors, and the one next to it for my office. There's a lot of rooms here anyways." he turned his face to Bepo

"Bepo, can we submerge here?"

Bepo checked the many diameters and screens in front of him and answered "Not now, there's some underwater currents ahead. We can submerge after we passed them, I say in ten or fifteen minutes if we keep the speed steady."

"How fast can this thing go?" Shachi asked.

"Pretty fast. But it uses a lot of fuel at full speed. The tank is already full and we have enough fuel for at least a month in the storage room but we should purchase some everytime we land. The sailing mode would be pretty slow considering the weight of the sub." Bepo explained.

"Speaking of which" Lilou said "I need a space for my meals in the freezer room. Law, can you collect some body parts in those cubes for me down there?"

Law nodded. "We can keep them in the infirmary storage too, the cube keeps them fresh enough."

Penguin shivered at the thought of Lilou eating severed body parts. Lilou noticed and laughed out as she kept slamming his shoulder repeatedly "Oh come on Penguin it's been years, get used to it already. It's not like I can eat my nakama! Hahahahaha!"

Penguin frowned in pain and distanced himself from her "Fine fine! Stop hitting me! It feels like a hammer for God's sake! Know your own strength!" he said while rubbing his shoulder.

"Oh hahahahaha sorry sorry. Alright I'm gonna take a quick shower don't submerge without me!" she grabbed her two katanas and headed out with Sakura.

Penguin and Shachi's faces melt down in disappointment.

"Why do we have a room with private shower in here? We never should've bought this sub!" Shachi whined.

"She could've used the shower down the hall! It's pretty nice too!" Penguin said with a gloomy expression. Law immediately hit them in the head with his nodachi's halt.

"The hell's wrong with your perverted heads?! Quit it already!" he growled at them with a threatening gaze.

Lilou chuckled in amusement at her perverted friends as she climbed down the stairs. She never considered her position as their captain to be something that changes her behavior towards any of them. They all respected her and her decisions without hesitation, but what she valued the most was their intimacy and closeness as nakama. She couldn't help to think how pathetic some pirates were, as they saw their nakama as mere underlings. They seemed to never experience the joy she had by simply goofing around with them and having fun in their company.

Law was a bit different on the other hand. He too was close to all of them and loved them unquestionably, but he held a more strong prestige as their captain. It was, afterall, how his personality turned out to be as they grew older. He became more introverted and hard to get, especially after Corazon's death, even more sadistic and violent in so many ways. His constantly calm and solid exterior was something that even managed to frighten Lilou sometimes. Lilou and Law had already spent more than half of their lives together, and she knew him deeply enough to know that the amount of hatred and grudge he was holding against Doflamingo was something beyond words, and it was slowly changing him from inside as years gone by. Lilou too wanted revenge, and she too was heavily obsessed with Doflamingo, but her natural carefree personality rescued her from becoming as dark and cruel as Law seemed to be. She had found peace within herself and was trying to cherish Corazon's memory by living her life being as happy as possible. Yet, she couldn't find words to express her worries about Law to him, as he felt so absent and distanced compared to when they were kids. To her, it felt like he was putting up a wall around himself, like he didn't want them to be as close as they once were. They were still pretty close, however it was far way different from before, he was changed in too many ways, and he seemed to be ok with it. And Lilou wasn't fail noticing how his sleepless nights were growing in number lately, but then again, what could she say? He would defiantly jump at her to mind her own business rather than worrying about his insomnia and self destructing behaviors.

"I guess there's nothing for me to do, Sakura." she whispered and smiled at the bird as she stroked the soft pink feathers on her neck.

" _Rouuu_." Sakura called smoothly and blinked at her. She was another one of the blessings in Lilou's life. Sakura was the only creature in the whole world who knew exactly what went through her mind all the time. Lilou's mind was permanently connected to Sakura's provided by her fruit abilities. She would find Lilou in the darkest depths of the earth or at the highest summits of the sky and would take her anywhere if Lilou just asked her in her mind. Lilou smiled at her and opened the door to her new room.

It was a large room with a circular window beside the queen sized bed in the right side of it. Under the bed was a wooden dresser and a large closet and the left side of the room was decorated with so many, still empty, book shelves and a desk with a chair. On the left side of the main door was the door to the bathroom. Everything was so intact and perfectly made. Lilou inhaled the scent of wood and hummed with joy. She closed the door behind her and placed her puffy feather coat on the bed and leaned her katanas against the wall.

She took off her clothes and walked into the shower. Once the water got hot enough, she stepped under it and closed her eyes, letting the water run on her velvet-like skin and slowly wash the tension off her body. She buried her fingers in the mass of her raven hair and turned her face up under the running water. If she was a human, her skin would probably burn off at the water's extremely hot temperature, but the Ghoul she was, she found it so pleasing and not a bit uncomfortable to wash her body with that boiling water. She was actually more than grateful to finally be able to have a hot shower like that. She was slowly absorbing the fact that from now on, this will be the place she can call home. She smiled at the thought and washed off the remaining foams from her slender legs, and then shut the water.

She wrapped her wet body into a pink towel and slid her feet into her fluffy slippers as she walked into the room again.

The temperature inside the sub was lower than normal but she found it soothing. Plus, Bepo would definitely be more comfortable since he was extremely sensitive to warm climates.

Lilou opened her closet while she was humming a song and picked out a simple black dress and a pair of white, fluffy, under the knee heeled boots with black spots to match with her hat. She put them on and attached her katanas crossed to her back with a delicate leather belt that went around her shoulders, and then grabbed the two immovable parts of her outfit. She adjusted her white fluffy hat on her silky long hair and placed her feather coat on her shoulders as she walked out of the room. Sakura was already deeply asleep on her bed.

After a few minutes of wandering in the sub, she went back to the navigating room. Law's nonchalant figure was leaning on the wall beside the door with his tattooed hands tucked into his pockets, while Penguin and Shachi were drowning Bepo in millions of questions about the sub's controlling system.

Law looked at her from the corner of his eyes. She smelt delightful, and her splendid breasts where showing off in her slightly tight, black dress, which was perfectly in contrast with her pale velvet-like skin. His heart raced faster as her light grey eyes met with his and a sweet smile shaped on her pink, heart shaped lips. ' _Dammit! She can hear my heartbeats if she focus! Why on earth did she have to be a Ghoul with increased senses?!'_ he thought angrily to himself, then turned his cold eyes away from her face.

"We're submerging, Bepo." he calmly said.

Bepo and the other two turned around and noticed Lilou.

"Ok captain. We just passed the currents Lilou-chan, we were waiting for you." Bepo smiled widely at her "Get yourselves ready, we're going under now!" he said and pulled a leverage down.

The sub started to submerge slowly and after a minute they were completely surrounded by the water under the ocean.

Lilou gasped at the view. It was absolutely wonderful. The sub's lights were lighting their surroundings as they moved forward. Suddenly everybody gasped in awe and they cheered as a school of goldfish collided with the sub's heading and then split in half around them.

"Wowww this is _the best of the best!_ " Lilou said in awe.

"We should be careful about the Seakings, they would crush us if we run into them underwater." Law coldly said with his eyes shadowed under his hat.

"Aaaah Law don't ruin the moment! We can worry about this stuff later!" Lilou jumped on him cheerfully and grabbed his sharp jawline "LOOK HOW PRETTY IT IS!" she turned his head up and made him look outside the wide window in front of them. He felt his skin burning where she touched it and immediately pushed her back harshly "I'm stating a fact!" he shouted at her.

"Don't yell at me, you jerk!" she shouted back angrily.

"Then don't fucking jump on me, you little beast!"

"Who did you just call a _beast_?!" she hissed at him with her blood-colored eyes flaming in rage as her Kakugan activated "I'll show you the _beast_ if you want it that bad!" she said with a deadly voice.

Law mumbled a quick 'Room' and a blue spherical shaped in his palm and started to encompass them. "Oh then what do you want me to cut off first? Your wings or your teeth?!" he smirked as he grabbed his nodachi.

"Wow wow _CHILL!_ " Shachi jumped between them hastily "Does it really necessary for you guys to fight _all the time?!_ " he desperately asked as his eyes traveled between the two raged captains.

"There's expensive stuff in here guys" Bepo calmly said as he was still focused on the screens in front of him "There are training rooms downstairs, you can use one of them if you wanna fight." he continued and went back to his work completely relaxed. He had been gotten used to them, fighting countless times about stupid stuff during the 24 hours of the day.

Lilou sent another deadly gaze at Law who was already holding up his unsheathed nodachi and growled. Her eyes went back to normal as she headed for the door.

"I have better things to do than fighting with an idiot!" she grunted and left the room. Law slid his nodachi back in it's sheath and stormed out in the opposite direction after she left, without saying a word.

Penguin sighed and rubbed the back of his head "Law sure is getting moody again."

Shachi hummed and threw himself on the chair next to Bepo. "He's worried about her trip. He's just losing his temper around _her_."

"But he's been acting grumpy from way before her plans!" Penguin said twisting his face.

"He's gotten worse in the past mon-"

"Get used to it. Don't look for a specific reason, it's just the way they are." Bepo said with his permanent calm expression, knowing exactly why he was acting like that, tough they never actually discussed it. He knew his friend, he could totally sense the war he was fighting inside himself for almost three years.

Down the corridors, Law kicked the door of his room close and threw his body on the bed. He pressed his palms against his tired eyes and rolled on his side. His eyes caught the many boxes on the floor and he eagerly jumped out of bed. Arranging his books was exactly what he needed in that moment, making himself busy with something, in general.

He moved the boxes in the room next to his bedroom and started to put them in the shelves and arranged them by categories. He noticed some of Lilou's book were packed with his. He put them on the table and went back to what he was doing, but even her books were enough to make his mind wander around her.

It was literally overwhelming how much power she was holding on him without even knowing it. He knew she could take care of herself better than anyone else, that much he was sure. But he wasn't sure if _he_ could take care of _himself_ during her trips. He's already been suffering from overthinking and it affected his behavior towards her to the point he sometimes even hated himself for acting like a total jerk. But she was close and beside him and it was absolutely better than nothing at all. What was he supposed to do when she leaves? She wasn't the kind of person to use her Den Den Mushi that much, she never saw it necessary in fact, and that meant he wouldn't even be able to hear her voice. He cursed himself for being such a coward. He wasn't even sure what it was that he felt for her. It was new territory for him, he didn't even know how was he supposed to express what he was feeling, rather than waiting for _her_ to show a little sign. Making her jealous was the best idea he came up with so far, not to mention the whole idea was stupid to begin with!

"Dammit!" he grunted and clenched his teeth as he placed another book in the shelf. Two knocks on the door pulled him out of his misery, only until he opened the door to see Lilou waiting outside the room with two heavy books in her hands. She smiled shyly and said

"These are yours, guess I wasn't paying attention while packing my stuff." she handed them to him. He grabbed the books and nodded his head.

"Some of my books are missing too, aren't they in your stuff?"

"They are." he said and turned around walking into his office again "Here." he pointed at his desk with his head and went back to his work. She walked in and grabbed her books, she frowned "Two of them are still missing."

"There's still some boxes left in my room. Maybe they're packed in them." he mumbled "Go check them if you want to, I'll be here for few more hours."

She stared at the back of his head. ' _He's not even looking at me! Just what is his damn problem?!'_ she frowned.

"Ok... thanks..." she whispered and left him alone with his books. She then walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind her.

The room smelled like him already, like pine leafs mixed with a slight scent of steel, her favorites. She shook her head and started searching through the boxes one by one.

Law stretched his arms and stood back to look at his perfectly organized little library. He shocked when he saw the clock on the wall showing eleven, he didn't even notice he missed the dinner. He walked out and headed for the kitchen. After grabbing a bite on the onigiri leftovers that were still on the long dining table, he checked on Penguin who was on the watch on the deck, then he went straight to his chambers, desperately hoping he could finally get few hours of decent sleep. He halted soon as he opened the door, as he saw Lilou's sleeping figure, laying on his bed with one of his books still open on her chest.

"Jeez you really can fall asleep in the middle of anything, don't you?!" he said and nearly slammed the door close on purpose. She didn't seem to notice him at all. Law slowly walked towards the bed and hesitated as he stood beside her. She looked so peaceful and her steady deep breaths were telling of how comfortable she was sleeping there.

"Fine!" he growled and laid on the other side of the bed. He knew she wouldn't wake up that easily when she fell asleep like that.

He stared at the ceiling while he listened to her breathing in and out calmly. He rolled slowly and looked at her profile, then he carefully picked up the book and placed it on the nightstand.

Lilou mumbled something in her sleep and rolled to his side and threw her hand on his masculine chest. He stilled in the half-raised position he was in and frowned at her. Still asleep. He sighed and laid back down, careful not to wake her. However, she half-opened her heavy eyelids and stared at him in the dark.

"who is it?" she asked, obviously not awake yet. He smiled with amusement.

"It's me, you fell asleep here." he said calmly.

"Oh?" she mumbled as her eyes closed again "Ok then." she crawled closer to him and rested her head on his arm. Law's eyes widened

"Oi! Stick to your own side!"

No answer. He looked at her face, ' _Yup, sleeping again! Seriously!'_ he sighed and tried to relax. Cuddling with someone had always been the most uncomfortable sleeping position for him, but then again, it was _her!_

He relaxed the arm her head was on and tried to sleep, and to his surprise, a dreamless sleep embraced him after few minutes. First calm sleep in weeks.

He woke as he felt the early morning sunlight on his closed eyelids. He could smell something sweet under his nose and felt a warm presence against his body and opened his sleepy eyes to see Lilou's sleeping figure between his strong arms with her face buried in his chest. Her raven hair was spreading around her like a silky piece of cloth, shining under the dim light of the rising sun outside the circular window. It took him a minute to notice the position they were sleeping in. He must've cuddled her in the middle of the night, her right arm was on his waist and their legs were tangled together under the heavy blanket, her head still on his arm while he was holding her body and his face was buried in her hair, the source of that sweet smell, he noticed. She smelled like cotton candy and carnation flowers. He slowly stroked her bare shoulder and got shocked at how soft and flawless her skin felt like, he had never laid his fingers on anything as soft as the skin of this sleeping Ghoul who was peacefully tangled in his embrace. It has been years since the last time they fell asleep like this.

Her body moved slightly and she opened her heavy eyelids.

Law smirked and mockingly asked

"Didn't you like the bed in _the queen chambers_?"

She blinked and looked up at his calm face, still on the edge of sleep and awareness. She stretched her legs under the blanket and said

"Umhhh... I was reading one of your books here last night... why didn't you wake me?" her voice still sleepy.

"I tried to, but you seemed like you wouldn't wake up unless a cannon hits you."

"Oh? Sorry... Hey!" she narrowed her light grey eyes at their position "When did you become so gentle to hug me like this?!" she teased and playfully smirked at him. He frowned

" _You_ hugged me! You literally _trapped_ me!" he barked at her annoyed.

She chuckled childishly "Awww I missed this... We used to sleep like this all the time when we were little." she grinned.

"Yeah well now we're big! Use your own bed!" he coldly said and tried to sit up.

"Law?..."

He stopped and looked at her. Her eyes suddenly looked puzzled and a little frown was sitting between her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

"What is it Saru?" he asked with a calm voice. She shook her head and sighed. Then she looked up again, staring into his steel grey eyes that somehow seemed soft after months.

"Why are you pushing me away?" she whispered. Law barely managed to keep his expression calm as he was surprised by her straightforward question. "I mean... you act like... like you... _hate me!_ " she continued "I don't know what have I done! But I can't think of anything that could make you loathe me to this extent!" she looked sad, and she wasn't the type of person who gets sad easily.

Law frowned. What could he say? _Because I think I love you but I'm a coward so I decided to be a jerk instead?!_ Definitely not!

"You really _are_ a baka! How could I hate _you_?!" he answered annoyed, not a bit angry however.

She kept staring at his face. Big eyes searching through his, she wanted an answer. He sighed and laid back down, their faces just few inches away. He stroked her hair softly and said

"I don't hate you. I never have and I never will. You know how much you mean to me." his calm, male voice sounded kind and was soothing her. She studied his tan face, suddenly he didn't seemed as strange and distant, at that moment, he was the Law that she loved from the bottom of her heart. She noticed it's the first time she's this close to his face. He was beautiful! Strangely, she found herself wondering how charming he truly was. His perfectly angled face and his deep eyes hypnotized her for a minute.

"I feel, lonely... when you act like that..." she whispered smoothly. Her warm sweet breath made his mind go completely blank. She was the center of his dark and empty world in that very moment, nothing else seemed to matter at all, just her. "It feels like... you're rejecting my very existence. And to live with such thought, that _you_ out of all the people is rejecting me... it hurts..." her voice slowly dropped.

His eyed widened for a short moment. He never noticed how his actions could affect her, he was failing to notice how he was hurting the feelings of the one person who he was cherishing the most all this time.

"It never was my intention... hurting you..." he whispered absentmindedly as he was still lost in her silver-like irises "I just feel, heavy." it was true, probably the realest thing he said to her in a long while. He was feeling heavy, overwhelmingly heavy and confused.

He tightened his hold around her small figure. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt his soft fingertips on her skin, it felt like her skin was melting under his burning fingers. She was resisting the feeling that was pulling her closer to him with all her might, it was like gravity, or a magnetic field.

"Why is that?" she mumbled, trying to push back her feelings and stay on topic. She could feel the heat and the frizzling sensation in the tiny space between their awfully close lips. His lips seemed so soft and irresistible to her and she couldn't help wanting to press hers on them. Law too was fighting with his aching mind, trying to hold himself back from kissing her full pink lips. They were becoming harder to resist any second, he was desiring her with every single inch of his being, he always had, and now it was about get out of his control, as he was slowly losing his ability to think in her warm presence.

Lilou slowly raised her hand and ran her soft fingertips on his perfect jawline, still in a paralyzed state of mind.

She breathed out slowly and stared deep into his hypnotized eyes, and it was more than enough for Law to lean closer and press his burning lips on hers without a second thought.

It was something beyond his wildest imaginations, to think such perfection could even exist. She leaned closer and pressed her lips on his soft ones, kissing him back tenderly. He tasted delicious, more delicious than anything else she had ever tasted, and Law's mouth filled with a fresh and sweet taste, and something iron-like, a slight taste blood.

She ran her slender tattooed fingers in his soft raven hair and pressed herself to his masculine and flawless body. She let out a little moan in his mouth as his tongue started ravishing hers. His heart raced faster at the sound of her delicious moan. He leaned up without parting his lips and pressed her body on the mattress, with his right fingers in her silky hair and his left ones on her waist. He ran his fingers up to her bare chest and moved them on her skin all the way to her shoulder blade and her arm and finally her hand. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand up above her head.

She felt like heaven itself, his freshly discovered heaven. She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him closer, how she loved the feeling he was giving to her. This pure flow of sensation wasn't like anything she experienced before, and she let herself get drowned in that flow.

He parted his lips and looked at her angel like face as both were heaving for air and the sound of their heartbeats and the sound of ocean waves slamming on the sub were filling their ears.

She stared into his grey eyes and saw a spark of flaming red reflecting on them.

She gasped and closed her blood colored eyes and turned her face away. She didn't even notice when her kakugan activated.

Law smirked with amusement and grabbed her sharp little chin

"That's beautiful. Don't hide it." he said as he rested his face in front of hers, his grip still around her tiny wrist.

She opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow while looking at his amused face with red irises surrounded by pure black sclera. He stroked her cheek

"Better."

Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she frowned. She opened her adorable mouth to argue but closed it again. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and casually said

"Personal issues."

Lilou raised her eyebrows at his out of the blue statement. He leaned up halfway and smirked at her confused face

"You asked something didn't you?" he said with a mocking tone.

She frowned slightly. ' _There he goes again!'_ she thought annoyed.

"So is this how you deal with your personal issues?" her red irises still fixed on his grey ones. "Not exactly." he said playfully and placed a kiss on her little nose.

Lilou was still in the shock of what happened a few moments earlier. He leaned down and placed his forehead on hers, staring deep into her magical eyes.

"Can't you keep them like this all the time?" he mumbled, his soft lips brushing on her burning ones. Lilou blinked in disbelief

"Why would I?!" she whispered.

"They're spell-bounding." he simply answered.

"It'd be an unnecessary waste of Rc cells."

"Eat more then."

"We don't have access to food all the time. I might eat _you_." she mocked.

" _That_ I don't like." he frowned a bit. Lilou smiled and sat on the bed next to his laying figure. She stared at her fingers tangled in Law's on her lap, deep in her thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Law asked while playing with the tip of her long hair spreading on her back with his free hand.

She didn't answer for a minute. She had never gave credit to her feelings about Law, simply because she thought he wasn't seeing her as something more than his childhood friend, and she just blocked her feelings completely, soon as she felt a painful bubble in her chest by witnessing him hooking up with countless women and never even seemed to care about her in a romantic way. She did love him, probably from way before he loved her, and this sudden change in their relationship was confusing her. She knew he wasn't the kind of person who could do romance, or even be in a romantic relationship, she wasn't even sure if he loved her or just merely wanted to claim her.

Lilou clenched her jaw, it was unacceptable, it was Law for God's sake! And she knew him enough to know he wasn't planning to give her the kind of love she longed for, for years.

"Law?"

"Hmmm..."

"We shouldn't do this. I... don't want this." lie. She tried to say with a steady voice.

After few seconds Law asked

"Why do I hear hesitation in your voice?"

She stilled. ' _Because I want this more than anything...'_ she thought to herself desperately. "Imagination?" she calmly answered.

"Why don't you?" he mumbled "You seemed to enjoy it just few minutes ago."

She turned to face him. His black t-shirt was crumpled up and his abdomen muscles were showing off. In that moment, she just wanted to throw off his shirt and run her fingers on his perfect abs and v-lines.

She pushed back the thought and looked at his face. He looked... sad? ' _Noway! probably just disappointed.'_

"I did. But that was it. I don't want it to happen again." she sighed "It's confusing and unnecessary."

He raised an eyebrow at her

"Confusing how?"

She threw herself on the mattress and stared at the ceilings.

"Confusing like I ask you why are you treating me like an eyesore and you kiss me instead of giving me a real answer!"

His eyes widened. Why did it have to be like this? Like the moment he feels he can finally express his feelings, she starts to argue about it being confusing and unnecessary! What else he should've done?! It was all he knew, everything in his power, and there she was again, making a headache out of the sweet moments they were _just_ sharing!

"You said you're feeling like I loathe you and that I'm hurting you!" he desperately said, not able to think of any better answer.

Lilou jumped up with a deep frown on her delicate face and her eyes flaming in rage. Law stared at her shocked.

"So you thought you should do the only thing you have learned to do around women?! My God you're _unbelievable_!" she grabbed her hat and stormed out of the bed and headed for the door.

" _Lilou_!" he walked to her hastily. He grabbed her arm tightly and turned her around.

" _Don't ever touch me, you jerk!_ " she shouted at him and her kakugan activated again, and it definitely wasn't out of lust this time. She tried to pull her arm out of his tight grip but unfortunately he was strong enough to match with her inhuman strength and hold her back. He could even fight evenly with Lilou and manage to leave some bruises on her.

"WHY do you have to turn EVERY CONVERSATION INTO A FIGHT?!" he yelled at her and harshly pulled her closer as his furious eyes were locked on her raging face.

"WELL YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF WHY! YOU BRAINLESS MANIAC!" she screamed back in his face.

"How am I THE BRAINLESS ONE WHEN IT'S ALWAY _YOU_ WHO STARTS SCREAMING AND BITCHING ABOUT ME BEING A JERK AND DON'T EVEN TRY TO UNDERSTAND _THAT MAYBE IT'S TIME YOU GOT USED TO MY PERSONALITY_!" he yelled while he grabbed her other arm and violently shook her body.

" _YOUR PERSONALITY SUCKS THEN! LEARN TO TREAT YOUR NAKAMA LIKE A NORMAL PERSON WOULD DO_!" she yelled as she was struggling to get out of his freakishly strong hands. His tall figure was completely blocking her vision. She gathered all of her power in her neck and hit him in the stomach with her head. He shrieked in pain and bent down. Lilou started to run to the door but only a moment after he reached his hand and grabbed her ankle, causing her to hardly fall on her face. He pulled the screaming Lilou close as she was struggling to free her foot, and stilled her on the ground as he was on top of her on all four. She punched his face and blood started to drip from the corner of his lips. He cursed and grabbed her wrists in one hand and slapped her face with all his might.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH! HIT ME ONE MORE TIME AND WATCH ME CUT YOU DOWN IN A MILLION PIECES YOU FREAK!" he yelled as pure fury was pouring out his eyes.

Her eyes were closed and crystal red teardrops were running like a river on her face. She struggled and yelled with a hoarsen voice

"LET GO OF ME! I'LL FUCK YOU UP LAW I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL!"

"FUCK YOU! YOU ALREADY _ARE FUCKING ME UP_!"

She kicked his legs and tried to free herself but he slapped her in the face once again.

"I SAID DON'T HIT ME!"

"AND I SAID LET GO OF ME YOU MANIAC!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and two flaring vermilion wings pierced her skin from inside out and she grabbed his whole body with them, crushing him to the point that he felt like his bones could shatter into pieces any second.

He pushed his elbows on the inner surface of her wings and with a massive amount of effort freed himself and rolled on the ground.

They both stood up quickly at the same time, Law grabbed his nodachi from the desk as Lilou charged at him with her wings transforming into sharp edged crystalized spears.

He covered his sword with Armament Haki and clashed it to her wings, stopping her just a heartbeat before losing his head. She growled. She held the exact same expression she had when fighting enemies. Even with Law's level of physical strength, winning her at this rate was close to impossible, she was completely loosing her mind to rage and the smell of his blood was driving her insane. She could feel the monster that Doflamingo had created inside her was begging her to run loose, to just finish Law once and for all.

Hurried footsteps from outside the door distracted her mind, enough to overcome the urge to kill him. Penguin's voice came in as he was slamming on the metal door

"Guys? GUYS?! Stop it for God's sake! The whole place is shaking!"

Law growled and pushed her back with his nodachi's blade and opened the door. Penguin's hand froze mid air as the door opened in the middle of his repeatedly knocking. His jaw fell down awfully at the sight of his messed up captains. Blood was dripping from Law's mouth as he was sending him a dreadful gaze with his unsheathed black blade in his hand. And Lilou's chest was harshly going up and down as she was heaving for air with her kagune activated, staring at him with her frightening eyes as her wings were flaring on her shoulders.

"What do you want Penguin?" Law asked. His voice was calm, cold, and deadly. Penguin's eyes widened in terror and he tried to open his mouth.

"Oh now you wanna fight him too?!" Lilou mockingly said to Law.

"Stay quiet, you damned woman!" Law grunted without turning to face her.

She stepped behind him " _Move!_ " she ordered coldly.

Law tightened his grip on the halt and stepped aside after slamming the door completely open. Penguin jumped out of her way and only waited long enough to make sure he wouldn't run into her again before he ran out of the corridor.

Law slammed the door shut and sheathed his nodachi.

He let his exhausted body fell on the chair and threw his tall legs on his desk. He pressed his eyes shut. Ironically, the taste of blood in his mouth reminded him of the taste of her lips, leaving him wondering how could someone be able to make you feel like the happiest man alive, then before you know it, that exact same person would just leave you there feeling like the most miserable soul on earth.

The world sure worked in a strange way, otherwise, how could it be possible to love someone, and then hate them at the very same moment? ' _Tragic, isn't it?!'_

"And that's how we start the day, Cora-san!" he whispered at the empty room, with a dreadful amount of bitterness in his low voice.

* * *

 **From this point on, the story's timeline is synced with the original beginning of One Piece. And feel free to share your thoughts on the chapters with me;D**


	5. Remind me as I once was

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my Ocs.**

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Chapter 5 - Remind me as I once was

"Bepo…"

"Hmmm…"

"Do you think, is there a way to know… you know! Like is there a kind of a scale to know if… you're competent enough to, _live_?!"

"What do you mean competent?" Bepo asked.

Lilou stoped to think for a minute, searching for the right words to transmit her thoughts. She opened her light grey eyes and looked at the clouds in the sky. Bepo's laying figure on the wooden deck was providing her a big, soft fluffy pillow as she was leaning against him, and Sakura was napping right next to them.

Her mind was full of questions, the ones she always tried to avoid thinking about. But now she was wondering…

"I mean, how do you think one can know if they are worthy to get a second chance in life? Do you think it's possible for someone whose not decent enough to get a second chance anyways?"

Bepo hummed with his eyes still closed "You mean yourself?"

"No… well, yeah! I don't know! I'm wondering, if a person gets a second chance to live, how should they even use it? How can they tell if they're using it right? Are there even rules for that? You know… people always want to pursue their dreams, what would someone with no dreams pursue?"

"No dreams?!"

"Uhmm… say... someone gives his life so you can live. Then, you don't know _how_ to live! I mean, you think u do, but you don't! At nights before sleep comes to your eyes, you feel like you truly don't know what do you want from this world. You wonder if it's you whose wrong, or the world you're living in." she closed her eyes again "You think you have goals, dreams, but... they seem empty, pointless. They're not the kind of things someone whose been given a second chance should do. You'd be like... like there _has to_ be more. But then again, you're like… what should I do? Where should I go? What should I say? When should I die? Should I even die? _Should I even live?!_ Should I be proud? Should I feel guilty? Or thankful? What should I pursue if I find my heart not beating faster with joy like it should be, when I think about my future? What should I do when the future fails to make me feel excited? Like… you _know_ that someone, something, wanted you to live but, you don't know what you're truly living for!"

"Hmmm… I thought you're done doing this."

She opened one eye and looked at him from the corner of it. "Doing what?!"

"Questioning you existence." he said casually.

"I am… I'm just wondering if I'm doing this whole life thing right."

"There's no rule for that. You sound more like you feel, I don't know, trapped, maybe? Like you want to be something you're not letting yourself to be. When someone gave their life to save yours, they obviously loved you enough, believed in you enough, to entrust that life to you, the rest is up to yourself. If you're not feeling happy, you should probably remind yourself of the fact that you were originally supposed to be happy with this life you have been given the chance to live. If you're still not happy ask yourself, when was the last time you were happy? What made you feel that way? Do you still have it? If not, can you replace it? If you still have it, and it's not making you happy as it once did, can you repair it? Or it's un-repairable? If it is, why don't you let go? If it's not, what is keeping you from repairing it?"

"You'd make a good therapist, Bepo!" she smirked.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled with a gloomy mood. Lilou laughed out

"I complemented you, you don't have to be sorry." she chuckled "I enjoy talking with you, you make things sound easier than they actually are."

Bepo hummed and the two fell silent for minutes. Lilou stretched her arms and made herself comfortable and stared at the sky again. Dark grey clouds were getting close from the west, it was going to rain soon. It felt like the sky was reflecting her emotions somehow, as she was deeply thinking about what Bepo said. The last time she was truly happy? She struggled to remember for a minute, then she noticed surprised, that she used to have a pretty happy life before being taken away from Dawn island. It shocked her, realizing how she seemed to not recalling that times as a part of her life, more like a beautiful piece of somebody else's life rather than hers. Some stranger kid in an island, living a simple life, playing, studying, training, having friends, family. It was like looking at someone else's life on a screen, and she envied the life that stranger girl was living, she was happy, truly happy, yet it wasn't her, she was a different person, even the childhood that Lilou recalled as hers was a different one, one full of blood and violence, endless fear, running, hiding, killing, running again, hiding again. Her life was divided in two completely different parts, one as a human, and one as a Ghoul. And the human part felt awfully strange and far to reach, she never dared to consider herself the person she once was. That person was innocent and full of dreams. This new person was a murderer and her heart was empty. She had let go of her past as a human long ago, it was lost for good. Lilou searched through her memories from the other part of her life, trying to remember a happy time. Her heart ached as she suddenly remembered that Law used to make her happy, truly happy! He was accepting her as she was, and he used to be kind with her. He was the first and the only thing that managed to fill her heart with joy when she though it was impossible for her to be happy ever again.

"Repair it if it's broken you said…?" she said absentmindedly "Let go of it if it's un-repairable." bitterness coating her words "What if it can't be repaired and you can't let go of it either?"

"Lilou" Bepo calmly said "Are you thinking about Law?" he asked.

"I do." she mumbled. Best thing about talking with Bepo, was that she never felt embarrassed to express her thoughts exactly as they were. He never judged, he was just listening and then stating what he was thinking honestly.

"People are difficult. I don't know what makes you think he's beyond the point to be repaired, I think he's trying to figure himself out in some way, like yourself maybe. But you know, when you have no idea what to do like now, you just have to make a decision. Keep asking questions and wondering what to do solves nothing. Just make a decision your guts telling you is a good one and flow with it. I think the reason you're not happy right now is that you stick to some rules you think _you have_ _to_ follow. Didn't you once said something like the rules are made to be broken?"

Lilou hummed "I did, in fact." he was right, she was trapped in her self-made boundaries. "Rules are common ideas, mindsets. Accepted by enough people to become a must, a certain way of doing things." she said calmly "One thing about rules is that they have the ability to bent, twist, challenged, questioned, changed, broken, and rebuild. So as time, so as life, so as people. Rules are similar to water. It moves, stills, freezes, changes form, gets heavy, then light again, as many times. It can crush or block things, or create them. It flows, it lives, it's free. So as rules, so as time, so as life, so as the world, so as people." she said and sat straight. She looked at Bepo and grinned, her mind felt much lighter. Bepo grinned at her too

"I like you better this way captain." he said and then frowned "I wish we had some fish. There's only meat in the freezer room."

She laughed cheerfully at his sudden off-topic statement.

"Ask Sakura to get you some whenever she wanted to go fishing for herself." she said as she stood up and attached her katanas to her back. A flapping sound made her look up, it was the News Coo dropping off the morning paper. She picked the paper from the deck and scanned the first page's headings. Nothing really important caught her eyes. She went through the other pages and her eyes locked on a brief article.

 _Vice Admiral Garp summons to supervise_

 _the new Marine Academy entries at the East Blue base_

She narrowed her eyes. Garp was going to be there too?! It wasn't like he was going to be a big problem though, but she definitely didn't want to run into her grandfather while she was spying in their job. And she knew the Navy well enough to know exactly why did they summon _him_ to the East Blue base. Sure they were on standby to catch her. She's already been to the other three bases, she knew they were expecting her to show up in the east base soon. But a Vice Admiral? Garp and his absolute justice league was trying to finish this rat problem by making it personal? Lousy!

"Guess somebody's been overreacting!" she hummed.

"What's in there?" Bepo asked still laying on his spot.

"Nothing really important, Marines being predictable as fuck like alw-"

Her eyes widened as she caught the glimpse of a familiar face, cheerfully grinning at the camera ignoring the complete chaos that was taking place in the background. The bounty poster slid out of the newspaper and danced in the wind, flying up in the air. Lilou jumped up and harshly grabbed the piece of paper mid air, her big eyes filled with excitement and she felt the tears of joy shaping in the corners of them. She grabbed it and sat down on the deck cross-legged, slightly leaning forward while eagerly staring at the boy's face in the picture. Of course! She should have seen this coming earlier, of course he would gain the Navy's interest in no time. Her heart was bumping in her ears. She savored every little detail of his face. He looked no different except for he was older than the last time she saw him. Their mutual D shaped grin on his carefree face and his scar mark stretching under his left eye, he looked like he's just done beating the crap out of some unlucky guy as his cheerful face and the red vest he was wearing were covered in dust, and oh sure there it was, his precious strawhat resting on his messy raven hair. _Dead or Alive,_ _Monkey D. Luffy, 30,000,000 berries._

She jumped high in the air with her arms stretched up and shouted cheerfully from the top of her lungs

" _LUFFY! YAHOOOOOOO!"_

She immediately closed her eyes eagerly and started to create mind tunnels with every Navy man and woman she had ever touched in East Blue. Random images of people, bases, cities, fights and report pages passed through her mind. She kept searching for several minutes as Bepo curiously was staring at her. _'There!'_ she stopped in a Lieutenant commander's mind. She focused harder and began to search through his memories while listening to his surroundings.

 _-"This Mugiwara Luffy rookie has been rampaging through the east lately, he already brought down four of the most troublesome pirates of East Blue."_

 _The guy slammed his hand on the desk. Four bounty posters laying on it, ~ALVIDA 5,000,000 berries~, ~BUGGY THE CLOWN 15,000,000 berries~, ~DON KRIEG 17,000,000 berries~, ~ARLONG 20,000,000 berries~_

 _"Let aside the corrupted Captain Morgan. He's starting to become a problem. And he has the infamous Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro in his crew. Eliminate the Mugiwara Pirates before they reach further! THAT'S AN ORDER!"-_

Lilou opened her eyes "Aaaahahahahahaha! I'm so proud of my stupid brother Bepo! Hahahaha!" she cheered while holding the bounty poster up for Bepo to see it.

"The twin one?!"

"YES! Apparently he's been beating the crap outta some ugly bastards! Hey look look! Check it out!" she ran and kneeled next to Bepo, shaking the poster in front of his face "It's his first bounty! Aaaah I'm so happy! He shouldn't be far from us! MY GOD I MIGHT EVEN SEE HIM SOONER THAN I THOUGHT!" she shouted and laughed out.

All the tension that's been pilling up in her since her fight with Law earlier that morning had been replaced with absolute happiness and excitement. Luffy was close, she could sense him. He was closer than he'd ever been in the past ten years. She tried to remember the stolen memories of that Lieutenant Commander and take a guess on Luffy's current location. His last opponent was Arlong, Arlong used to reside in the Arlong Park located in Conomi islands, and considering Luffy's bounty came with today's morning paper, he shouldn't be more than two or three days further from the Conomi islands, which made him no more than five days further from Lilou. She was going to wait the following two weeks before sneaking into the east base in order to allow the defensive forces to lower their guards for a bit, but with Garp's arrival from the Navy HQ, it didn't really made a difference if she headed for the east base in two weeks or right now. Plus, she might even be able to meet with Luffy along her way if she was to move today. She grinned widely as she stood up and readjusted her hat on her raven hair. Bepo narrowed his eyes

"You're gonna do something reckless again don't you?" he asked suspicious.

"Not exactly. I'm just thinking about a minor rescheduling." Lilou chuckled and opened the heavy door of the sub "You wanna come in? I'm making coffee."

Bepo hummed and closed his eyes again "I'll come a bit later. My nap isn't complete yet."

Lilou giggled and stepped inside "Ok." she said cheerfully with a rhythmic tone and almost danced rather than simply walk on her way to kitchen.

She poured the coffee in her favorite mug and sat by the table as she was thinking about the arrangements of her new plan. As much as she wanted to avoid seeing Garp, it was in fact a perfect opportunity for her. If she could manage to touch him even for a second, he could literally turn into a perfect asset since he was a Vice Admiral, originally staying at the Navy HQ, meaning she could access to his memories and mining the information from his mind anytime she wanted to, once he was back in HQ. This one ability she had thanks to the Phan-Phan No Mi, was her trump card against the World Government. They were only concerned about the soldiers who acted suspicious and seemed absentminded compared to their normal behavior, suspecting them to be Lilou in disguise, which in fact, they were just mind manipulated real soldiers whom Lilou used as a diversionary tactic, providing her to blend in even more smoothly. But with Garp being around, she needed to be more alerted, and she definitely needed to end the job as fast as possible and get out of there soon as she gathered all the necessary information and touched enough useful people. She was drowned in her thoughts while staring at the article and Luffy's bounty poster laying in front of her on the table, and she only noticed Shachi and Law when they entered the kitchen as they were talking about their almost finished medical ingredients. She turned her face to them.

"Oh! Morning captain." Shachi grinned at her.

"Morning Shachi. Coffee's ready." she smiled at him, ignoring Law.

"GREAT! You're coffee is the _best_!" he said excited and poured a cup for himself. "Law you want some?"

Law sat in the farthest seat from Lilou "Yes. Thank you." he said calmly. He pulled the collar of his hoodie higher and covered most of his face. However, Lilou didn't fail to notice the purple bruise on his right cheekbone, the outcome of her punch.

"Who's this?" Shachi picked up the poster as he sat in front of Lilou. She grinned at him as his narrowed eyes traveled between her face and Luffy's picture. "Hmmm… why does he look so familiar?" he mumbled and tilted his head. Lilou rolled her eyes "You never cease to make me wonder about the existence of a brain in that head of yours, Shachi!" she said annoyed.

"Eeeeh?!" he twisted his eyebrows offended.

Law rolled his eyes too "Just read the name for God's sake!"

Shachi looked at the poster again and his eyes widened. He slammed the poster on the table

"Your _brother?!"_ he almost shouted surprised.

"Aaah so you _do know_ my family name!" she teased and laughed out.

"Is that today's paper?" Law asked coldly without looking at Lilou.

"Yeah. Read this one." she tapped her finger on the article and tossed the paper to the other side of the table. Law checked it and tossed the paper to Shachi.

"Bepo said your're changing your plans."

Lilou took a sip from the hot coffee and nodded her head "I'm leaving today."

"WHAT?!" Shachi shouted and stared at her in disbelief "But Vice Admiral Garp is there! I heard he's the scariest one out there!"

Lilou burst out in laughter "My! Jii-san can never be the scariest one! The only scary thing about him is that freakishly painful fist of love he likes to serve people with! Hahahaha!"

" _Jii-san?!_ " Shachi's eyes were just about to pop out. Law frowned

" _Garp_ is your grandfather?! Why didn't you tell?"

"You never _asked!_ " Lilou raised her eyebrows like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Anyways, they didn't summon him there just to supervise the new entries, they're expecting me, and he won't leave anytime soon so it doesn't matter when I go anymore. I'll just have to make it as quick as possible." she shrugged "I'll wait for Sakura to wake up then we'll go. I'll contact you if anything goes wrong." she finished her coffee and put the empty mug in the sync before she left the kitchen with Luffy's bounty poster in her hand.

Law stayed in the kitchen for a while. To his surprise, he felt relieved. As much as it was hurting him to see her depart from them this unexpectedly soon, he found it the best opportunity for himself to get over whatever he was feeling towards her while she was away. She made her point clearly that morning. And Law found it humiliating for himself to still want her to be his. She seemed to be completely over it, and it was more than enough for him to realize how stupid and wrong it was from the very beginning. He could live peacefully with his normal lifestyle now. Except for this time he wasn't going to do it to prove anything, or gain anything. She told him anything he needed to know. The only matter now was her safety. Garp being her grandfather wasn't that much of a problem, him being a Vice Admiral waiting there to catch her was the problem. Lilou was strong, but the operation he performed on her seven years ago, left her with some side effects, and the one which was worrying him the most was something that could easily get her into trouble while fighting a stronger opponent. Since her speciality was in close combats, she was heavily vulnerable to fatal attacks as she had to use a dreadful amount of Rc cells to block them, and it resulted in loss of energy and strength and weak performance. It was in fact the main reason she mastered swordsmanship after the treatment, as she preferred to fight with her katanas as long as it was possible and save the Rc cells for serious situations which she had no other choice rather than fighting with her kagune. Law has been trying to find a solution for this dangerous problem for years, yet everything seemed to end up being a dead-end. _'Everything has a price afterall.'_ her voice echoed in his head and he smirked. Afterall, she had already made the decision, and arguing with it was nothing but pointless. All he could do now was trusting her to return unharmed.

At the same time, Lilou threw her body on the bed in her room and pulled out that old picture again. It's colors weren't as bright as they once were, yet it still looked like the most magical piece of paper in her eyes. She smiled and stared at it. She remembered the day Makino-chan took that picture from them. Lilou, Luffy, Ace and Sabo were standing in front of the bandits' house, with the huge wild boar they had hunted earlier that day, Ace was sitting on it's top and Luffy was cheering beside him while Lilou was grinning at the camera as she was trying to climb the boar and Sabo was hanging from it's horns and smiling at the camera with that one missing tooth of his. They seemed like the happiest kids in the world. In the left corner of the frame, Dadan's face was visible as she was shouting something at them. She couldn't remember what was their share of daily disaster on that specific day, however, even Dadan's angry face managed to warm up her heart. It was taken just a few weeks before Sabo's death. None of them seemed to have any kind of worries in their minds, only dreams. Lilou tucked it back inside her metal armband and grabbed Luffy's bounty poster as she got out of the bed and walked towards her desk. She opened a drawer and brought out a thin file, she then sat on the chair and opened it. Ace's bounty posters were collected in there, sorted by the time they were released. She carefully placed Luffy's in there too

"Yosh! That's one for you!" she grinned and put the file back in the drawer. For a minute, she felt like she's been wrong earlier. The first part of her life wasn't as lost as she always considered it to be. Of course she couldn't go back to those days, but she didn't have to deny the fact that she was, somehow, still the same person. The pure memories she remembered from that time made her wonder that maybe she wasn't all bad in her brothers' eyes as the way she was now. She smiled at the pleasing thought and started to pack some essentials for her trip in her backpack.

Not much later, Lilou hopped on Sakura's back and wrapped her arms around her neck.

"I'll probably be back before you reach Loguetown."

Penguin handed her little backpack to her with worried eyes "Please don't make a scene again." he said desperately. Lilou chuckled "I'll try to!" she stroked Sakura's head "Let's go."

Sakura flapped her giant wings and elegantly raised few meters.

"Take care, Saru." Law said with a nonchalant expression on his face as he was leaning against the railings with his hands tucked into his pockets. Lilou turned her face and their eyes met. She stared into his eyes for a second "You take care too."

Sakura then raised in the sky and caught the wind under her wings. Lilou grabbed her tighter and closed her eyes, transmitting Luffy's face to Sakura in her mind.

"We're gonna have short stop along the way Sakura. Fly as fast as you can in our current direction."

" _Rouuuu_." she called out loud and immediately added to her speed, causing Lilou to grab her even tighter to avoid falling into the ocean below them.

It took them three and a half days until Lilou finally saw a ship in the distance, with a skull wearing a strawhat painted on it's sail. Her heart skipped a beat. _'He's on board that ship! Luffy is right in front of me!'_ stress started to take over her. Her heart was racing faster than ever and her mind went blank. What was she supposed to say to him?! She was panicking. She took three deep breathes and tried to calm herself as they got closer to the ship in the dark sky of the night.

"Sakura, they might be asleep. Let's be quiet."

Sakura turned her head and looked at Lilou with her golden eyes. She knew Lilou was stressed. Lilou smiled at her "It's alright. We're not staying long."

Chattering sounds could be heard from the deck below her, as Lilou was standing on the upper deck, under the shadow of a tangerine tree next to her. She narrowed her eyes at it _'A tree?!… well it's Luffy's ship! At least there's no bronze statues in here!'_ she thought amused. She quietly took few steps forward and looked down. Her heart stopped for a second as she saw Luffy's cheerful face, jumping around with two huge chunks of meat in each of his hands. Rather than himself, four other people were gathered there. It looked like a late night little party. So much like Luffy, the atmosphere felt so lively. She only recognized Pirate Hunter Zoro, the three remains of his nakama included an orange-haired girl, a cute blonde guy with swirly eyebrow and a long-nosed guy. They seemed peaceful as each one of them was kinda busy doing their own things and chatting with the others at the same time. Luffy's loud cheerful voice was all over the ship, making Lilou want to jump right on his head and hug him, telling him how much she missed him, how much she thought about him and dreamed about the day they could meet again.

"OOOIIII SANJIII? Where's the rest of the meats? Are you hiding them!?" Luffy shouted at the blonde guy.

"YOU ATE ALL OF IT JUST NOW YOU BAKA!" the blonde shouted back at him, then he turned to the orange-haired girl with hearts popping out of his eyes "The rest is for my beautiful Nami-san's special meals. Aaaah Nami-swaann, do you want me to make more of these love cocktails for you?"

The girl named Nami gave him a half smile "Thank's Sanji-kun, it's enough for me tonight."

"I want love cocktails!" the long-nosed guy shouted happily.

"Me too me too Sanji make love cocktails for me shishishishi!" Luffy shouted cheerfully after him. Sanji turned to them and kicked them both in the head while holding a dish still in his hand

" _Love cocktail is JUST FOR LADIES YOU DIMWITS!"_

Lilou stood still on her spot for an hour, watching them goofing around, talking, fighting, laughing, simply having a fun night together. Luffy seemed happy. She couldn't move a single muscle, and she only noticed tears running on her face when a single teardrop fell on her hand that was pressed against her heart.

It was heavy… she wondered what made her think in the first place, that she actually could meet with her brother and have a normal sibling reunion. She wasn't even the person he once knew anymore. She was a monster. And she found herself not having the courage to even look into his eyes. She never wanted Luffy to meet this person she turned out to be, he didn't deserve such a horrible thing, having a monster as his sister. He was definitely better off without her in his life, just remembering her from time to time as that little innocent girl who used to live with him was enough. She pressed her eyes shut and painfully sobbed in silence. The truth was hitting her hard in the head, that pure and happy life she once had was completely over. She loved Luffy way more to step in front of him and make him confront a monster, claiming to be his dead sister. It was for the best afterall, for him to just remember the old her. This mess she was turned into, wasn't how she wanted him to remind her. It was killing her, the pain and sorrow she was feeling at that moment.

She threw her head backward and looked at the starry sky above from behind the drape of tears. Just as she wanted to turn her back to her precious half, a comet passed in the sky, reflecting it's magical light on her wet eyes. Her lips shivered and she felt her heart shattering into million pieces. _'Keep my Luffy safe and happy…'_ she closed her eyes and sent her wish away with the comet, then she hopped on Sakura's back and whispered "Let's go, Sakura."

They raised and as Sakura flew higher, Lilou buried her face in the feathers of her neck and let her tears flow and kept sobbing in pain uncontrollably.

"Luffy?…" Nami asked curious "What happened?"

Luffy was standing still, staring at the same spot that Lilou was standing a few seconds earlier.

Zoro arched an eyebrow and looked at where he was staring at "What's wrong, Luffy? Is something there?"

Luffy didn't answer for a few seconds. He kept staring at a spot next to Nami's tangerine tree with a serious look on his face. He was sensing a strangely familiar feeling radiating from that empty spot.

"No. I just felt someone was here for me." he turned his face to them and grinned "Must've been my imaginations!"

* * *

 **So until now, you've learned about Caesar being the original creator of Ghouls[Oh how I wish it was canon lol] Law and Lilou's weird and violent relationship and that she is lowkey suffering from a terribly low self esteem. Now that the set up chapters are done, the storyline will start to get somehow more dark and structured. PLEASE leave reviews and share your thoughts on my story with me, it'll mean so much for me and give me the motivation to continue uploading new chapters. Loveyouall xxx**


	6. No wings to fly, no legs to run

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my OCs.**

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Chapter 6 - No wings to fly, no legs to run

 _Madness!_

The only word she could think of to describe what she was _just_ hearing. It was madness. The shit was beyond ridiculous! How was it possible for the Navy to be useless to this extent?! How could they let that damned psychopath run away so easily, _again?!_

The whole Navy was in chaos. Caesar Clown's break out from the transporting ship was definitely unexpected for the idiots. Of course he would! How couldn't they foresee that? What kind of a moron could possibly believe that transporting him to Impel Down with _only_ _two_ escort battleships was safe enough!? The little veins on her forehead were pumping in anguish as she was standing in Rear Admiral Murata's office, with two captains and her grandfather, Vice Admiral Garp. Her palms were all sweaty and her fisted hands were shivering on her sides. _'Focus!'_ she snapped at herself in her head, reminding herself of what she was doing there and watched her reflection on the window behind Murata's desk. Her face looked awfully pale. She tried to pull herself together and concentrated on her Haki.

"Sugiyama Taisa."

"Yes Sir!" she responded to Murata with a steady voice. Through the phantom she was creating for him, he was seeing Lilou as a blonde, mid-twenties tall man, the poor unlucky soul who just happened to run into her soon as she entered the island six nights ago, captain Sugiyama. Four pair of eyes in the room turned on her face, she held a strong expression and kept her head high and stared at Murata's face.

"You look tense today. What's on your mind?" he asked with his gaze carefully fixated on Lilou's face.

"Sir! The whole idea of that maniac running loose again makes me want to wipe him off of earth with my own hands. Kinds of that scum deserve nothing but rotting in the depths of Impel Down!" trying to keep her voice steady she said. Murata was a sharp man, she couldn't manage to be sloppy around him. "I'm recalling the reports I read on that abandoned laboratory in North Blue, discovered eight years ago by the Navy. All those dead children! Only a monster could do such a disgusting thing to innocent kids!"

A frown sat on Garp's face as he remembered the thing. Murata looked at him "Ah, Garp-san, wasn't it around that time your grandchild was gone missing?"

"It was." he said with a serious expression on his face which was rare "It was in fact how we managed to find that lab. Many kids were being reported as missing during those years, and most of them were northerns. It was how we followed the lead to that place. I gotta say, as much as I felt guilty for not being able to find those kids before it was too late, I actually felt relieved that my granddaughter wasn't along those children."

"I will feel relieved the moment we catch that granddaughter of yours, Garp-san!" Murata frowned. Garp let out a loud laughter "Bwahahahaha! That sneaky girl! Hahahahaha! I came to assist you with catching her but I'm telling you, she's smarter than that to get herself caught anytime soon! Wahahahahaha! At the end, not even one out of those three ended up in the Navy!" laughter tears shaping in the corner of his closed eyes.

"Garp-san!" Murata growled "You should take this more Seriously! If you want to handle this situation perso-"

"Oi oi Murata! Know your audience! They may be my beloved grandchildren, but this is the kind of life they've chosen for themselves! None of them are being considered as anything but criminals now!"

A disgusting feeling creeped on Lilou's back. _'You damned old geezer! You abandoned me way before I was a criminal!'_ she thought bitter to herself. Murata suddenly stood and came out from behind his desk "Anyways, as troublesome as it is, it's not in our concern to deal with Caesar Clown's escape, Sugiyama Taisa. And it's not supposed to leak out to the public. We have our hands full with these pirates running loose right under our noses." he turned to face Garp "Especially that other grandchild of yours!"

"Bwaahahahaha! You're giving me a hard time today, Murata!" he laughed out again."By the way, the problem we discussed earlier is something you should keep in your mind. The Yonkos acting out of order is something that could affect people all around the world, including yourself."

"Garp-san! That's classified information!" Murata quickly looked at Lilou and the other two captains in the room. Lilou tensed for a second. _'Yonkos? What about Yonkos?!'_

A harsh knocking on the door distracted her thoughts. The door opened wide and a soldier stormed in

"Murata Shōshō. Garp Chūjō." he saluted hurriedly.

"What's the matter, Sano?"

"Murata-san! It's her! _Black Siren has spotted in the main yard!"_

The atmosphere tensed immediately. Garp stood up from the couch he was sitting on and Murata placed his white coat on his shoulders as he headed for the door "Report the situation."

"She's being surrounded in the main yard at the moment sir! But…" his face turned red "It seems a bit odd!"

"What do you mean?"

"She seems… how do I say it! She's not acting as expected! She hasn't even tried to attack yet! She's just standing there and it seems like she has no idea what's going on at all!"

 _'Damn that captain!'_ Lilou thought horrified. It was bad, very bad! _'Wander around in the woods was exactly what I dictated to him! What the fuck is he doing in the middle of this fucking base!'_ she had to leave, it wasn't safe anymore. She lost her temper upon hearing the news about Caesar earlier and it made her distracted for few minutes, that probably was when the real Sugiyama gained back his consciousness for a moment and decided to turn back to the base. _'Good thing I phantomized his appearances as myself! I need to get out before the idiot makes it more complicated than it is!'_ she thought as she followed the other four through the base. She needed to make it to the edge of the woods, as smoothly as possible. Sakura was there waiting for her, she didn't want to risk the bird's life by calling her inside the base, she could get shot if things happened to get out of hand! Her heart raced faster, entering the main yard she saw the real captain Sugiyama, standing in the middle of the yard looking exactly like Lilou with hundreds of guns pointed directly at him. Murata frowned and narrowed his cautious yellow eyes at the fake Lilou who was running her astonished eyes around.

"It's obviously not her. That God damned rat's been wandering in here for God knows how long! She outsmarted us again!" he growled arrogantly. Lilou quickly grabbed the opportunity "Sir! She must be disguised as one of the staff. We should investigate everyone in the base before she gets away!"

"Kid?" Garp's large hand landed on her bare shoulder from behind. She quickly turned

"Yes Sir!"

"What was the last unit you worked in? I'm having a feeling that we met before." a cunning expression on his face as he stared deep with his keen eyes into hers. Lilou answered steadily according to the memories she crafted out of Sugiyama's mind "I've been assigned here since the first day I joined the Marine academy." she stared back at him with her cold eyes.

"Oh? You have a very familiar look in your eyes. I must've been mistaking you with somebody else then."

"Indeed, Garp Chūjō." she calmly said _'Like hell I let you old geezer expose me here!'_ she could smell his suspension clearly, he knew something was off.

"Garp Chūjō! It's not the time for small talk!" Murata barked "We're in the middle of an invasion!"

" _YOU!_ "

They all jumped and looked at the fake Lilou, her finger pointing at the real Lilou in disguise "Who are you?! Why is your face looks like mine?!" he shouted in confusion with widened eyes. _'SHIT!'_ she held her breath. The crowd fell completely silent. Murata's eyes landed on her face, quickly calculating the situation "HUH!" he shouted with his eyes shining with a sense of victory.

"Waahahahahaha! Like I can forget those tense eyes of yours, kid!" Garp bursted out in laughter. _'Leaving smoothly?! Screw that!'_ she thought as she canceled her spell on the real captain Sugiyama. The whole troop gasped in shock as Sugiyama turned back to his original appearances.

"Well I guess my fun time here is coming to it's end." she stated mockingly as her disguise vanished "It was nice meeting you though, _Jii-san!"_

"ALL TROOPS AFTER THE INVADER! BRING HER DOWN AT ANY COST!" Murata yelled out and drew his sword.

"Yehihihihihi!" she laughed out childishly jumping high on a portico's roof, drawing her katanas from her back as she ran and jumped from one rooftop to the other, causing the earthen bricks crack under the pressure of her kicks. Looking down she saw hundreds of soldiers shouting and cursing as they ran after her with drawn weapons. She laughed out loud with her childish voice again "Such a shame I can't stop and feast on you! I'm kinda in a hurry right now! SEE YAAAA! A-aaaahhh -" she tripped on a bulged brick at the edge of the roof she was running on and fell down rolling right in the middle of her angry pursuers.

"Oops!" she chuckled, quickly getting back on her feet "Guess I have no other choice then!" slashing the bodies of four soldiers in a row, she said with her voice shivering with excitement. She dodged the strike of a huge blade and slid on the ground between the soldier's feet, appearing right behind him and swiftly slashing through his back. Blood spouting out and covering her all over as she continued cutting flesh and bones, one man after another. The blade of her katanas covered in red and her tongue licking the blood on her lips, she noticed a giant soldier charging at her from behind with an axe about the size of her body.

"Sneaking from behind" she snarled "And you call yourselves the men of honor!"

He dashed his axe at her crossed katanas above her head and mocked "Monsters don't need an honorable death, you scum!"

He was strong, her arms were starting to bend under the pressure he was constantly adding to his strikes. All she could do was blocking his attacks as he was purposely pushing her towards a wall, leaving her no space to run. She cursed as the sound of clashing steels filled her ears again.

"TO HELL WITH IT I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU UGLY SHIT!" she yelled out activating her kagune, hardening one wing she revolved it around her body, and pierced through his stomach with her other wing turned into crystalized mode. The guy's eyes widened in pain and disbelief as he coughed blood. She smirked and harshly pulled out her blade shaped wing from his body. He fell.

"Eeeh? Dead already?! What a bore!" she coldly said as she was disappointed in her opponent's weak defense and nonchalantly looked down at his lifeless body. Turning her body she started running again towards the woods, randomly shooting crystal-red sharp blades from her kagune at the soldiers still following her.

"YOU'RE PUSHING YOUR LUCK TOO MUCH, BLACK SIREN!"

She halted as a sharp rush of pain stung her chest. Her red irises locked on Murata's yellow ones, standing high and steady in front of her, with the tip of his long sword pierced out from her back between her shoulders. She smirked as the shock washed off of her mind "Don't get so cocky now!" she snorted and kicked his body away hard, bending her upper body backwards releasing herself from the sword stuck inside her chest. The wound started to heal within seconds as she charged at him with full force. _'He's strong. I can't afford pushing myself too much. Damn HE'S FAST!'_ she dodged another strike. He was all over her, attacking from every possible angle, moving almost as fast as Lilou herself. She jumped high and showered him with crystal blades. He deflected most of them, still some managed to pierce through his shoulders and legs. She jumped back down causing the ground crack under her feet, opening her wings for a final blow. _'It has to end NOW!'_ Her energy was draining.

Her eyes widened in shock. It happened in a second. Her wings got disjointed by his Haki covered blade and they vanished into the air before hitting the ground.

"Arghhhh-"

Blood spouted out of her mouth as the cold sharp steel pierced through her heart. She fell on her knees with her arms still open on the sides.

Murata dragged his sword out of her chest "My apologies for missing your heart the first time." he mocked, swiftly swung his black blade and before she knew it, her legs detached from her body at the knee point. She fell on her face, drowned in her own blood. Her mind was going black.

"No wings to fly" he slammed his foot on her shoulder pressing her against the ground "No legs to run." he mocked again with a creepy voice "You came to the wrong place this time, Monkey D. Lilou!"

Her vision was getting blurry and she was losing her consciousness. His words though, made an image pop into her fading mind.

"No wings- to f-fly?" she coughed more blood and asked with a hoarse voice, smirking at his face through her shoulder blade. A sound of flapping filled the air above them.

His eyes widened in disbelief "Wha-"

"Later, fucker!" she spitted the blood on the ground before his feet and smirked gloriously. A familiar sharp call filling her ears and pink covering her vision, was all she remembered before passing out into the endless darkness.

Staring at the sleeping, purple Den Den Mushi, Law kept tapping his index finger on the wooden desk continuously. He was sitting there in his office with a buzzing sound in his head, waiting for the Den Den Mushi to start ringing. Not that he actually believed it would though. He couldn't help the uncomfortable feeling creeping inside him from the second he opened his eyes in the morning. It's been more than two weeks, and not once she had contacted them during that time. This annoying, uncomfortable feeling has been bugging him through the past two days. He glared at the newspapers from past weeks piled up on his desk, like it was their fault that he was feeling that way. He grabbed the one from two days ago and read the article in the front page for the thousandth time. _'Cover ups! Just write down the real thing you cowards!'_ he thought annoyed. The article covered the event in an as non-detailed way as possible. _Black Siren's last night unsuccessful attempt to invade the East Blue Marine base neutralized by the powerful joined military forces of Vise Admiral Garp and Rear Admiral Murata._ Lie! He knew she was sneaking around the base for at least a weak before she escaped. It was a five day trip to the base from where she departed from them, a week at worst, and she only ran away three days ago. Yet there was still no signs of her coming back. It was nothing unusual, though, his guts were telling him something was off. He sighed and headed for the door. He paced through the sub for few minutes, with his mind busy and a deep frown on his face, he eventually found himself outside the navigating room and walked in absentmindedly.

Checking the course and studying the monitors in front of him, Bepo was sitting on his chair. His ears moved as he heard Law's light footsteps entering the room.

"What's up captain?" he asked looking at Law's dark face through his shoulder.

"Nothing important." he nearly whispered.

"Still no calls?"

Law didn't answer the question. He stood next to Bepo and looked at the maps in front of him. "How much longer we have till Loguetown?"

"Tomorrow morning I say."

He nodded his head and turned to leave. He went to the infirmary and checked the freshly refilled cabinets. Antibiotics, painkillers, sedatives, herbs, and everything else needed for a just in case situation was there. He checked on the blood bags, enough F types. And the storage room behind the infirmary held enough cubes filled with severed body parts for her in case she came back hungry. He didn't know why was he checking on these stuff so obsessively, he just felt he has to be ready. For what? He had no idea. Just another guts feeling. Hurried footsteps closing in to the infirmary pulled him out of his thoughts. Clione, one of the three new members of their crew, busted in clumsily and slipped on the metal floor for few inches

"CAPTAIN!"

"Don't yell I can hear you just fine!" he frowned and said grumpily.

"I'M SORRY BUT CAPTAIN! YOU HAVE TO COME WITH ME _NOW_!" Clione yelled again with widened, horrified eyes. Law tensed and walked forward "What's wrong?"

"IT'S CAPTAIN LILOU! SHE'S U-"

Law ignored the rest and started running up to the deck where everyone seemed to be gathered. From what he was hearing, he knew it was bad. He almost jumped up skipping the last stairs and ran into the upper deck.

"Be careful she's bleeding. _Don't pick her up like that_ _baka!"_

"Lilou-chan ? Lilou-chan can you hear me?"

"She's unconscious. She's lost a lot of blood! Hurry up get her inside!"

"Move aside I'll carry her in." Bepo said as he leaned down and carefully picked up her slack body.

Law ran towards them. The words dried in his throat and his cold eyes widened as he saw the pink feathers on Sakura's back completely stained with blood.

"Bepo! Carry her to the infirmary! Shachi, Penguin, get the operating room ready." he ordered and they immediately ran inside. "Ikkaku-ya, assist me in the operating room." the brown-haired girl nodded harshly with worried eyes. "Clione-ya, take care of Sakura. Uni-ya, Stay in the navigating room until Bepo gets back."

"Yes captain!" both men said in unison.

Law stormed back into the sub with Ikkaku running after him. He hastily sterilized his hands and hurried to the bed Lilou was laying on. Both of her legs were severed from her body a few inches under her knees and were unstoppably bleeding. He checked more carefully. Thin, pink, curved lines were visible on the skin above her knees "Her legs were gotten severed from _here_ , her body has already started the regenerating. Ikkaku-ya, bring five F type blood bags. Penguin, bring the Rc serums."

He started to sterilize her open wounds and tried to stop the bleeding. There were few more already healed, pale scar marks on her body. The biggest one was right on the place her heart was barely beating.

" _How_ is she still alive?!" Ikkaku asked horrified, staring worriedly at the large scar on her chest as she sat up the blood bags and attached the super-sharp, steel needles to Lilou after Law covered them with Armament Haki.

"She's a Ghoul. She won't die that easily." he said calmly, but a little voice inside his head was telling him not to be so sure. Just seeing her in that state was a painful reminder of how much stronger they needed to get.

Penguin ran towards them and handed the Rc serums and a syringe to Law. He injected two Rc shots into the blood bag that was being transfused to her body. He leaned and stared at her disjointed legs "C'mon heal faster!" he mumbled and kept staring until he saw a slight increase of speed in the regenerating process. He injected three more Rc shots and kept staring at her for minutes with his heart pounding hard in his chest. There was nothing else he could do but waiting for her body to heal for itself. He kept staring until he made sure every single cell to her last toe is grown back perfectly. He let out a relieved sigh "Ikkaku-ya, would you clean her up please? Throw all of her clothes away except for her hat and her coat."

"Ok captain."

"I'll go check up on Sakura." he said as he turned and walked out of the room. Ikkaku stood there, staring at Lilou for few seconds. She was shocked. She had never witnessed such a thing before, and she felt a sense of admiration upon her as she stared at Lilou's pale, peaceful face. She looked like she's simply sleeping, not at all like someone who had just been brought back from the verge of death. It was the first time she was seeing Lilou in person and she wasn't even conscious, yet Ikkaku was feeling a deep kind of respect for her.

"I wish I can become as tough as you are, Lilou-chan!" she whispered and smiled cheerfully as she started to wash the blood off her body.

Law halted soon as he stepped outside the infirmary. The whole crew including Sakura was standing there with worried expressions on their faces, waiting for him to come out. He just stared back at them with his cold grey eyes.

"Captain, will she survive?" Shachi asked with tearful eyes. Law frowned at him

"Of course! You're acting like you don't know her!" he answered annoyed.

"But captain! her legs!" Penguin cried out.

"They're already grown back. Get over yourselves! You look pathetic!" he sent a deadly gaze at them "Now, someone tells me exactly what happened up there." he leaned against the closed door and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Uni saw her first." said Clione and pointed his finger at Sakura.

" _Rouuu"_ she called smoothly and blinked at Law.

"Yeah, I recognized Sakura from what others described before. Then I called the others on the deck but..." he shivered as he remembered the state Lilou was in at the moment "The second they landed, captain Lilou dropped from her back all covered in blood and she was barely conscious."

"She was conscious?!" Law asked, slightly frowning.

"She was." everyone else nodded in unison.

"I think she was keeping herself conscious the whole time so Sakura could find us." Bepo calmly stated.

" _Rouu rouuu!_ " Sakura shook her head up and down repeatedly. Law was shocked, not that it was affecting his solid expression though.

"Then she tried to say something but she kept coughing blood and I couldn't unders-"

"She said 'bring Law to me'." Penguin said cutting Uni's sentence "Then she completely passed out."

"I see." Law mumbled and readjusted his hat on his messy hair. He looked up and studied their worried faces. Even the ones who still didn't know her were worried about her conditions. He hid his face under the shadow of his hat as he smirked. She had this quality to impress people before even meeting them, _'So much like her'_ he thought amused.

"She's alright, there's no need to worry. Her conditions are stabilized already. She just needs to rest." he said to them calmly, then he looked into the round golden eyes of Sakura and smiled faintly "You've been very brave, Sakura. Thank you." he said while patting her soft head. Sakura blinked at him and then yawned. "Now leave the area, you're making too much noise!" shaking his tattooed hand in the air he said coldly and headed back into the infirmary.

He placed five cubes on the metal drawer next to a bed in the infirmary, then walked into the operating room and found Ikkaku still sitting next to Lilou's unconscious figure. She turned her face to him "Captain, when will she gain back her consciousness?"

He leaned forward and looked at Lilou's face for a second, then checked the numbers on the monitor next to her bed "She already had. She's just asleep."

Ikkaku's eyes widened "She's _asleep?!_ " she almost shouted with a high tone. Lilou growled in her sleep and threw her arm on her closed eyes. Ikkaku stared at her in disbelief "I can't believe it! It's not possible!" she said confused.

Law shrugged "You'll get used to her. Let's move her to the infirmary."

After placing her on the bed with her meals beside it, he noticed Ikkaku's eyes creeping on the cubes holding severed body parts with a terrified expression on her face. "You'll get used to that too." he said nonchalantly. He was desperately looking for an excuse to send her away. "You better leave now. She'll be hungry when she wakes up, she might go berserk and eat you."

Ikkaku stared at him trying to figure if he's joking. The seriousness in his voice made her body shiver. Law barely managed to hold back himself from laughing at the outcome of his statement. The poor scared woman nodded hastily and ran out of the infirmary at full-speed and closed the door behind her. Law chuckled at the sound of her hurried footsteps getting further outside the door. He pulled his chair closer to her bed and rested his head on his palm.

"At least you made it back in time."


	7. Rebuild

**Author's note: Kanpai to @malavita for leaving reviews on my story, your comments are so heartwarming and sweet to read.**

 **Reviews are vey much appreciated by the authors please post your thoughts on the fic if you enjoy it.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my OCs.**

* * *

Chapter 7 - Rebuild

 _'Those wings aren't strong enough to fly me anywhere…'_ she blinked and faintly opened her eyes _'And those blades don't cut deep enough…'_ she felt a steady heartbeat next to her left hand _'Still weak. Weak weak so weak. I can't afford staying this weak!'_ she looked around the dark room, the Polar Tang's infirmary. She glanced down and saw Law's sleeping figure on a chair next to her, resting his upper body on the corner of her bed. Her growling stomach annoyed her ears and she closed her eyes again frowning _'Such a shame… getting defeated that easily!'_ the sound of waves outside the sub soothed her mind, she smelt something delicious from the right side of her head. With her eyes still closed, she reached out her hand and touched a cube, she grabbed it for a second, then dropped her empty hand hanging from the side of the bed. She sighed and opened her exhausted eyes, staring up at the ceilings and her mind wandering around the recent events. At least she managed to get Garp's touch without trouble. Her eyes widened for a second as she remembered the conversation she was involved in before things start to get messy. _'That geezer said something about Yonkos acting out of order!'_ she focused and started tracking Garp's mind among all the people she had ever touched _'There!'_ she closed her eyes and searched through his memories, mostly the recent ones. She saw an image through Garp's eyes, a conference room, it seemed like. Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and the three Admirals, Akainu, Aokiji and Kizaru were there too, she couldn't recognize the rest. The memory was at least two months old. She listened, and listened, and she got more confused as she kept listening to their conversation. _'What IS that?!'_ she thought shocked opening her eyes. Law moved slightly and opened his sleepy eyes. She looked at him sitting straight and stretching his arms, his eyes landed on her face

"You're awake." he said calm.

"Hmmm…"

"How are you feeling?"

"Miserable!" she growled annoyed.

Law stayed quiet for few seconds, studying her face. The cubes next to her bed were still untouched. He sighed "We need to get stronger, both of us. Much stronger."

She didn't answer. He was speaking her mind, they were already stronger than many other people out there, but it wasn't nearly enough.

"What happened?"

Lilou looked back at his face again, he looked exhausted. The dark circles under his eyes were grown larger since she last saw him, and his face held a darker impression than any other time.

"I got ahead of myself." she mumbled and looked away "Murata crashed me like an insect!" she smirked "Side effects of being overconfident with my strength!" she said with bitterness coating her words.

"Did you find anything useful?"

"Not really. Nothing new about Doffy that we don't already know. I got Garp's touch though, it'll be useful once he's back in the HQ."

Law nodded and stood up. He stopped for a moment, searching for a comforting thing to say and make her feel at least a bit better, yet he couldn't come up with anything good.

"We'll reach Loguetown in the morning. Get some more sleep." he said while walking towards the door, he stopped in the doorframe "And eat."

"Ok." she mumbled absentmindedly. He stayed still for a moment, his back to her laying figure, struggling to find a less embarrassing way to say what he wanted to.

"Lil?"

"Hmmm…"

"I… before you left I…" he exhaled and clenched his jaw "It was a foul move, what I did that morning."

Lilou turned her eyes to the back of his head and arched an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue, she stayed quiet for a minute. He looked at her over his shoulder, finding her staring at him with her head tilted, he frowned "What's with that face!?"

"Oh you're done?!" she raised her eyebrows and asked. Law frowned deeper and grumbled as he turned around "I'm trying to apologize here!"

"For kissing me?"

"For hitting you, moron!! Why would I apologize for _that?_ "

"I don't know you do weird things. You're weird." she shrugged. His eyes widened

" _You're_ weird! I'm just saying I shouldn't have hit you and I'm sorry that I did!"

"Long as it never happens again, fine." she calmly said and threw her arm on her eyes, a sign for ending the conversation Law noted. She wanted him to leave the room and let her be alone with herself.

"It won't." he mumbled then closed the door behind him. She moved her arm and kept staring at the empty space before her puzzled eyes.

Caesar's escape wasn't something Law would find important or useful. Caesar was Lilou's prey to hunt, not Law's, not anybody else's, only hers. And now he was lost… again! She remembered Garp's words _~more than ten battleships attacked the Navy's ships and took Caesar. No banners on their vessels, even their faces were covered with cloths. They left us no trace to follow~_ the thought made her clench her jaw and fist her hands so hard that her nails jabbed into her palms, causing blood to drip on the mattress from inside her tiny fists. She rolled on her side and stared at the cubes, she was feeling hungry but didn't quite felt like eating in bed and getting her clean clothes all bloody and wet. "Whatever, I'll eat in the morning." she growled to herself and closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep and avoid the useless overthinking.

It was six thirty in the morning when Ikkaku knocked on the infirmary's door and waited for few moments as she was holding a pair of boots and few pieces of clothes from Lilou's closet.

"Who's there?" Lilou's voice shouting from inside the room made her hesitate to go in for a second, as she remembered Law's statement about Lilou going berserk and eat her up.

"It's Ikkaku, Lilou-chan."

"Who?!"

Ikkaku opened the door and gasped soon as she stepped inside. She covered her mouth and stared at Lilou with widened eyes as she saw her lounging on a chair beside her disorganized desk, resting her head on her crossed arms behind her and playfully rolling a piece of bloody bone between her lips while the morning paper was laying open on her legs, which were thrown on the desk. She was still in the white shirt Ikkaku dressed her with last night and her feather coat was resting on her shoulders. Lilou narrowed her red eyes "Who're _you?!"_

Ikkaku hardly pulled herself together and uncovered her mouth

"My name's Ikkaku I'm… one of the new members… of your crew…" her voice slowly dropped under Lilou's calculating gaze. She looked at Ikkaku upside down "Oh? Ok!" she shrugged and turned her eyes back on the newspaper "I saw a lot of people up there yesterday now that I think about it."

"Yeah… we were waiting for you."

Lilou twinkled her nose "You smell familiar." she looked at Ikkaku coldly from the corner of her eyes "Were you taking care of me last night?"

"I was, Lilou-chan." she said, still slightly terrified from her. Lilou turned her face to her again and grinned, her eyes turned to their original color and they suddenly looked kind and somehow childish "Oh?! Well, thank you!" she said cheerfully "You seem nice, Ikkaku." she grinned at her again. Ikkaku released the breath she was unconsciously holding and smiled at Lilou "Eeeh yeah it was nothing." she said shaking her hand in the air "I'm glad you're fine."

"Yeah I slept pretty fine." she said as she threw the paper on the desk and stood on her feet.

"I brought you some clean clothes." Ikkaku handed her the clothes, she grabbed them and cheerfully grinned "Ah thanks! I was just about to go change."

Ikkaku smiled back at her, now feeling more comfortable in her presence "Come join us in the kitchen, everyone is gathering there. Oh! And Bepo asked me to inform you that we'll arrive at Loguetown in five hours."

"COOL!" Lilou laughed out and started to take off her clothes already. Ikkaku chuckled to herself as she turned to head out, this fragile Ghoul wasn't the terrifying monster she was expecting her to be at all.

Upstairs, the kitchen fell into a heavy silence once Lilou stepped in. Seven pairs of eyes locked on her figure for few seconds, then they suddenly jumped at her all at once while cheering out loud.

"Welcome back Lilou-chan!"

"We missed you so much!"

" _Why are you always doing this to us?!_ "

"LILOU-CHAN! WE THOUGHT WE'RE GOING TO LOOSE YOU!"

"Aaaah I'm so happy that you're back captain!"

" _Please stop doing this to us!_ "

"AAAH FINE _FINE YOU'RE KILLING ME BEPO!"_ Lilou yelled out trying to pull Bepo off of her head. She laughed out loud happily looking at their excited faces "I MISSED YOU GUYS TOO BUT STOP WHINING ALREADY FOR GOD'S SAKE!" she shouted cheerfully and laughed out again.

Lilou placed her coffee on the table and leaned her face down between Clione and Uni's heads "So you're the new guys. I see." she sniffed them "My! You smell delicious!" she licked her lips playfully and smirked amused, watching them shiver as sweat drops appeared on their foreheads.

"Give them a break, Lil!" Law said nonchalantly from the other corner of the kitchen, his face hidden behind the morning paper he was holding up.

"Ahahahahaha! What can't I have a little fun with my new friends?" she laughed out standing straight and patted the terrified pair's heads.

"They're not used to your weird sense of humor. Just look at their faces, you're scaring them!" he growled at her.

"Oh?! Oh! You _are_ scared!" she looked at them surprised "Hahahaha sorry sorry! I'm not really the kind of person who eats her nakama!" she laughed cheerfully. Clione and Uni laughed too and released their tensed bodies. "Unless" she leaned down again with her kakugan activated "They smell as awfully delicious as you guys do." she mumbled into their ears with a terrifying voice. Their frightened eyes widened as they looked at her red irises and their faces turned purple.

" _Lilou!"_ Law nearly shouted. She stood straight again, uncontrollably laughing as she walked away from them and sat down beside Shachi "Oh my God! I'm so sorry Clione, Uni, I really am!" she chuckled as she wiped her crystal-red tears "I just can't help it, it's so amusing!" she bursted out in laughter again.

"Is it really?!" Shachi growled at her and then giggled "No you're right it really is! Hahahaha!" he laughed at Clione and Uni "Oh God look at your faces!"

The four of them continued arguing for several minutes. Ikkaku chuckled "It's much more lively with her around here." she said to Bepo.

"Yeah she just can't keep it down." Bepo chuckled with amusement too.

"Lilou-chan is the exact opposite of Law!" Penguin laughed out.

"I said _I'm not gonna eat you!"_

"Well how do I know you won't?! I'm not even gonna sleep at nights anymore!"

"My! Stop with that already, you don't even smell good I was just teasing you!"

"EeeeH?! Of course I smell good! Who wouldn't want to eat me?!"

"Oh ok so" she turned her face to Law "Law? Would you please collect his body part in the infirmary?"

"WHAAT?!"

"What you're advertising for yourself!"

"I'm not! I'm worried about my life!"

Clione and Lilou were still at it while Uni and Shachi were heaving for air as they couldn't stop laughing at the hilarious fight.

"Drop it already, both of you!" Law grumbled at them and sent a threatening glare their way. Clione sent another annoyed look at Lilou and pouted as she teasingly laughed at him again.

"Fine I'm not even hungry now. I ate already, ask Ikkaku if you don't believe me." Lilou poured another coffee for herself "Alright I'm gonna get to work until we reach Loguetown." she said looking at the clock on the wall.

In the infirmary, she kept searching through the research files sorted by date for few minutes until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out the files and sat behind her desk, her brain filled with so many question marks. She chewed on her bottom lip as she read the files all over again carefully.

 _-Damaged organs: Lungs, stomach, Liver, Cerebellum, Occipital lobe-_

 _-Cause: Confliction between Human DNA and Ghoul DNA-_

 _-Treatment: Severing the parts hosting Human DNA from the listed organs-_

 _-Side Effects of the Treatment: Slow regenerating process, Loss of energy, Weak performance of Kakuhou, Occasional loss of sight, Occasional dysfunctional attacks in muscle movements-_

 _-Second Treatment: None recorded as successful-_

"Hmmm…" the last file dated one year ago, _None recorded as successful_ could be seen at the bottom line of every single record. She frowned as she leaned back on the chair. _'There must be something, we've just been missing it the whole time, there has to be something else we haven't tried yet.'_ her eyes widened suddenly, leaning on the desk she pulled a notebook close and started to write down sloppy sentences hurriedly before they vanish from her mind. "Yosh! Long shot but it worths giving a try!" she mumbled to herself.

Light footsteps from outside the door gained her attention, she didn't bother to turn around and see who entered the infirmary as Law's scent filled her nose. He walked towards her and read her notes while standing behind her sitting figure.

"Seriously?" he arched an eyebrow and asked.

"I've had enough of this bullshit. I can't survive the Grand Line in my current state." she mumbled still adding to her notes.

"Lil this isn't possible. It's not even a treatment it's a fantasy!" he frowned.

"Worths a shot." she said standing up and walking into the storage room. Law frowned deeper and followed her

"You can't be serious!"

"I am Law!"

"You may die!"

"Or not." she answered stubbornly as she grabbed a cube holding a human lung inside and walked to her desk again. He followed her, now really annoyed

"What are you doing?"

"Testing my theory."

"Drop it! It's not rational in any way!"

"This whole thing was not rational to begin with!" she smirked "Make a Room Law."

He kept frowning at her stubbornly with both of his hands tucked into his pockets. Lilou sighed "Please?"

He sent her an angered look and sighed "Fine." he mumbled a 'Room' and a blue spherical shaped in his palm, encompassing them in whole within a second. She cracked open the cube with her nails and placed the human lung on the clean metal surgery table in the middle of the room, filling a syringe with Rc serum, she injected a low dose of the liquid into the lung. The Rc serums Law had made years ago, were carrying her DNA as a Ghoul, injecting them into a human organ would kill the human cells residing in the organ, thus, it would turn into an organ as it could exist in a Ghoul's body. However-

"You _do know_ that I never managed to completely erase Caesar's fuck up, I just severed the damaged parts. It's not gonna work." Law said calmly as he was standing still, watching Lilou staring at the lung like she expected it to do something special.

"The Rc serums are containing my DNA _as a complete Ghoul!_ They're not the same as those crude Rc cells Caesar was using to create Ghouls. I can't believe I never noticed it!" she nearly whispered, with tracks of surprise and excitement in her voice.

"Even if it transforms perfectly, which I'm not expecting it happening, it'll be like doing it all over again. You'll put yourself through the whole transformation process again, and it's near to impossible for you to survive it considering your current state of physical strength."

Lilou turned her big grey eyes to his, looking at him like he was some kind of a crazy person "Of course I'll survive it! I did it once, _of course I can do it again!"_ She walked around the table and stood in front of his tall figure "Law! It was right in front of our eyes the whole time! It's stupid not to do it now that we _know_ it can work!"

"You'll have to go through an operation, and your body will have to bear the pain of turning into a Ghoul _once_ _again_ , and it might not even cure you as you're expecting it to do! The transformed organs could start to react anytime, and then I'll have to do the whole damned thing to save you from dying, AGAIN!" he grunted while leaning his upper body low enough to lock his furious glare right into her hopeful eyes "You will need _me_ to do the operation, and I am NOT going to put your life on the line for something as stupid as this!" he continued as calm as it was possible for the amount of fury he was feeling towards her. Lilou kept staring at him in disbelief, desperately looking for the right words to convince him, to make him understand just how much she needed this misery to end.

"Law!" she whispered with her heart feeling heavy in her chest and tried to push back the desperate tears that were begging to run from her eyes "You have no idea how important it is for me, do you?"

He straightened his figure and looked down at her with his ice cold eyes. He stayed quiet and kept staring at her without saying a word for a minute. She was acting crazy, irrational and even irresponsible. Even if she was right and the organs would perfectly pass the transformation process, her body would definitely reject the new organs. It happened once, and he was sure it would happen again! And yet there she was, staring at him like a lost poppy, like it was the one and only thing she wanted him to do for her, and he didn't got much surprised when he caught himself thinking about the drastically low possibility of actually doing the crazy job she was asking him to do.

"I'm not living the life that Corazon died for. All I was was doing lately was avoiding fights and lurking behind illusions, I can't even protect myself anymore! I'm getting weaker every day!" she cupped his face with her delicate hands and mumbled "If I keep living this way, I'll get killed in another fight like the one that happened a few days ago, it's just a matter of months. Even if not, I would become a burden!"

"You won't become a burden." he said steadily, trying to keep his mind from wandering into her magical eyes and holding on to his cold gaze.

"I'll become a burden to myself." she tried to swallow the painful lump in her throat "I can't live with myself like this anymore, Law!" she hardened her hold around his face still staring into his steel-like eyes. Law studied her face, she looked hopeless, helpless. _'Why in hell can't I just ignore this madness and say no?!'_

"What do you want me to do?" he asked calm, _'Oh of course! It's her!'_ he thought pissed at himself.

"To trust me and to help me." she whispered. He kept staring at her angel-like face for minutes, fighting a war behind his solid exterior. She was basically asking him to kill her, how couldn't she see it the way he was seeing it? What was making her believe that she can actually put herself through that awfully dangerous process and come out of it alive? He freed his face from her hands and walked towards the lung. He frowned as he studied it. Grabbing a scalpel, he severed a tiny piece from the organ. It grew back in less than a minute.

"We'll wait one year. If it was still unharmed and uninfected by that time, I'll do it. That's the condition." he said serious as he made another cube around the transformed lung. Lilou frowned and held one finger in front of his nose

"One week."

"No."

"One week, that's the longest I'm going to wait."

"NO."

"YES! One year is not even an option, even a month is too long. I was going to do it before entering the Grand Line. But I'll wait just to respect your decision. One week is the latest I can afford." she said firmly and crossed her arms under her perky breasts. Law frowned as he recognized the look on her face. Her mind was set and no one could change it at this rate, arguing was only pointless. He turned his back to her and walked into the storage room with the cube.

"I'm responsible for whatever happens to you during the operation and afterwards. There's no way I'll do a half assed job concerning your very life."

"I'll take full responsibility for it. I compromised with your condition and gave it a week, just do the damn thing for God's sake!" she nearly shouted with annoyance pouring her voice. He came back to the room and headed for the infirmary's door. He knew she wouldn't drop the issue that easily and he definitely didn't want her to follow him around and argue about it everyday, that was way too annoying.

"I have to study your theory more carefully. We will decide on the date whenever I concluded it's safe." he ended the conversation and left the room without giving her time to say anything in response. She sighed _'Better than a No at least!'_

Staying in the infirmary, she kept drowning herself in documents and medical files for another two hours until Bepo informed her that they have been arrived to their destination. She dropped the whole subject that was filling her mind since earlier that morning, soon as she stepped on the deck.

 _'This is it! We're here! The last island before the greatest ocean in the world, GRAND LINE!'_ she thought as her grey eyes were shining with excitement. She grabbed the railings and stared at the city before her, Loguetown. The place where the Pirate King born, and the place where he got executed and died. She wondered how the execution place would look like. Oh how she wanted to see it. How she wanted to walk in the same streets that the legendary man, _Gol D. Roger_ used to walk in, visit the places he used to, drink in the bars that he did, embrace every inch of the city that _he_ used to live in. She had never aimed for his title, nor his treasure, yet she always thought of him as the greatest man that ever sailed through the seas. She was aiming for the kind of freedom only a man like Roger could have had.

"I'm guessing it's quite what you expected it to be, Saru."

She turned her head and faced Law's smirking face. "It _is_! I can't wait any longer!" she turned completely to Law's direction "I want to visit the execution platform, Law!" her eyes were literally sparkling with excitement. Law frowned "We don't have time for pointless wandering Lil! You're dragging too much attention with your careless attitude! Besides, you _know_ captain Smoker resides in this town-" he stopped and stared at her grinning face, he knew her well enough to know she's not gonna act lowkey, she never did. He took a deep breath and desperately asked "You cannot care less, can you?"

"Aaaah it's alright Law! Hahahaha! This is the last island we're visiting in the four Blues before entering the Grand Line! If nothing wrecking a havoc only makes it more awesome, hahahahah!" she looked around impatiently "Where's everyone? What's taking them so long? I can't wait any longer!" she then placed her hands around her mouth and shouted "OOOOOIIII GUUUYYYSSSSS! HURRY YOUR ASSES UP I'M GONNA LEAVE FOR THE CITY _NOW_!"

Few minutes later, the whole crew was on the port except for Bepo who was supposed to watch the sub while they were gone, and he also didn't feel comfortable outside in warm and sunny days like that. Law was watching Lilou as she was climbing down the ladder, wondering how could an annoying little girl like she used to be, turn into a woman who her beauty could compete with even Boa Hancock's and easily defeat it, not that she cared about something like that though.

And Law didn't fail to notice the lustful gazes she was receiving from every single man she passed by. He frowned at the idea and added speed to his steps until he was walking beside Lilou and Clione, sending threatening gazes at anyone who dared to look at her. The tight white top she wore was boosting the magnificent display of her perky breasts as her velvet-like skin was glowing under the sun. Her splendid legs moved in such harmony as if she was dancing as she walked down the street.

"-that's where that kid from earlier said it was, Captain-chan!" Clione said.

"YOSH! Got it. Then, I'll catch up with you guys for dinner!" Lilou said to Clione cheerfully. She turned to Law's questioning grey eyes "Hey Law! You wanna come too? I'm going to see the execution platform! Yehihihi!" she laughed out as she was almost jumping rather than walking.

Law narrowed his eyes "No. I'm staying with the guys buying ingredients and fuel, I want to stop by some bookstores too." she stared at him with her magical eyes and he felt his heart skipping a beat as she smiled at him. For the thousandth time, he thanked God for she couldn't see what was going on inside his mind at that moment, and for he had such an outstanding power to keep his exteriors calm and solid.

"Oh! Then would you mind keep an eye for those alchemy books I told you about earlier?" she asked with a wide grin on her face.

Law turned his eyes back to the street again "Fine." he shrugged his shoulders. _'Like I could say no!'_ he thought.

What was she doing to him? It's been about three years for God's sake! Could it be that she really was seeing him as her closest friend who just randomly kissed her once and nothing more? That would make sense considering the fact that she never actually seemed to care about the countless amount of women he kept hooking up with! But to be fair, she was even better with fake expressions than Law, and he knew it very well. It was clear to him, no matter how hard he tried, it was just impossible to deny his feelings for her, he was already deep into trouble.

"Arigatō." she said still smiling "I'll get going then."

"The city's full of Marines, Saru! Don't get yourself in trouble." he warned her.

"Aaaah yeah don't worry about that I won't let them catch me while I'm inside their base. I've been wanting to see this Smokey guy anyways." she said casually. Law's eyes widened

" _I JUST told you to stay out of trouble! What kind of a BAKA are you?!"_ he barked at her.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" she laughed out again as she ran towards the alley to their right. "Seee yaaa…" she shouted childishly and waved at them as she ran inside the alley. Law exhaled with exhaustion and shook his head. Shachi laughed out from behind him and said "Don't worry captain! She'll be fine."

"Just a little while earlier today she was giving me this whole speech about avoiding fights and hiding behind illusions! This woman will be the end of me!" Law growled more like he was talking to himself while walking towards the rest of the crew which were stopping by a mechanical shop, picking out engine materials for the sub.

It was starting to get dark as Lilou absentmindedly walked in the direction of that local bar she was meant to join with her nakama in. Her brain was overworking and causing a buzz in her ears as she was recalling her spying session in Smoker's base earlier that day. She knew Luffy was here a couple days before. What triggered her was what she heard about the way he escaped from Smoker. She had heard rumors about _that man_ before, and from what that Navy soldier defined, she was pretty much sure that it was none other that _him_ who messed with Luffy and Smoker's fight, leaving her brother an escape route to take and run away. But what was bugging her at the moment was that tall hooded figure who walked past her an hour ago. Her sharp eyes been catching glances of him -didn't look like a woman's shape- ever since she parted from Law and the others, too much in fact. To the point that she was sure he's following her around. On the rooftops, in the shadows of the walls, amongst the people, he was everywhere. And then when she was finally walking alone in an empty street, there he was again in front of her, slowly walking past her and when she turned back, he was gone. Like gone gone! Why was he _here_? What could possibly cause him wandering in some random city stalking her and Luffy? And just _WHY_ Smoker and him seemed to get along with each other to the point that he literally stopped chasing Luffy after _he_ interfered. She never really knew him anyways, but she didn't think he was simply hanging around there just to set his children off to the Grand Line. _'Dammit! Of all the people, why is Monkey D. Dragon, my FATHER has to be here?! Coincidental situations just don't work like that!'_ she thought annoyed before she entered the bar where everyone was waiting for her.

She readjusted her fluffy hat and hid her puzzled eyes soon as she caught a glance of Law's nodachi by the bar. A sudden rush of rage heated up her ears soon as she saw a blonde whore leaning her head down towards Law's sitting figure, seductively whispering something in his ear as his left hand rested on her waist. _'Sick! sick sick sex addict monster!'_ she growled in her head. She quietly sat in the right side of Law and detached her katanas from her back and placed them next to Law's nodachi. Law suddenly realized her and his eyes widened for a very short second. He turned back to the blonde by his side and said

"Why don't you go to my friend over there, Ginny?" he pointed at Uni with slight movement of his head. He wasn't even enjoying her company anyways, he was just desperately looking for a way to keep his mind from wandering around Lilou. The blonde stroked his sharp cheek bone and said "Well I like what I'm seeing _here_ more, Mister Surgeon Of De-" she stopped soon as she saw Lilou's murderous gaze on her. She smiled at Lilou and stood straight. As she was passing them she said "That can't be helped though, if you insist." and sent a wink to Law as she walked away.

"Jeez she was hot! Did I ruin your fun?" Lilou said mockingly as she grabbed her bottle of sake from the bartender, the visor of her hat still shadowing her big eyes.

"No. Just a random." Law shortly answered and watched her bare arms as her puffy coat fell down on the chair. Her skin was glowing under the amber lighting of the place.

"Oh I see." Lilou mumbled absentmindedly. He looked at her shadowed face in the dim light and immediately noticed something was off.

"How did it went? Since I can't see a bunch of Marines running after you I suppose we can leave without _wrecking a havoc_." he smirked. She giggled and said "Aaaah yeah… What a shame, leaving so peacefully." Law laughed in amusement. Of course she wanted a good warmup before leaving for Grand Line. "Did you see Smoker?" he asked.

She paused before answering him. Law never knew who her father was, she wasn't hiding it though, the subject just simply never came up.

"I did, the _White Chase_ looks just like his name. Also…" she turned to Law completely "I gathered some odd informations about a certain man who by the way is still in the city, in fact, I ran into him an hour ago." Law tensed by her serious voice, something was bugging her.

"Who's he?" he narrowed his eyes. She stayed silent for a minute, as if she was trying to gather her thoughts and a little shrinkage took place on the corner of her heart shaped lips. It was her overthinking signature and Law knew it very well. She drank from her bottle and frowned.

"You remember that article from few days ago, about my brother, Luffy, the one that said he escaped this island after fighting Smoker?" she finally spoke. Law nodded his head. She continued

"Well from what I found out today, this man I told you about interfered the fight and Smoker seemed to made peace with that. And the same man was following me around the city today, and I'm guessing he _wanted_ me to notice him. And then on my way here, he just walked past me and then completely vanished. Based on what I gathered today from Smokey's base and matching them with previous pieces of information I had, I can conclude that this man is the head of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon." her gaze fixed on Law's surprised eyes "My father." and she fell silent. Law's mind was filling with millions of questions. What business does the first man of the Revolutionary Army could possibly have here? He's the most wanted man in the whole world, not to mention the most dangerous one, and captain Smoker seemed to be involved with him in some way? And…

"The head of the Revolutionary Army is _your father?_ " he asked out the weirdest one.

"Yes. However, we never saw him, Luffy and I. But about time I was learning to read, I saw his name in a newspaper and asked gramps about it since our surnames matched. He told me he's my father."

Law was tapping his chin with his index finger. "Well that explains why the Navy is so obsessed with you. But why is one of them is getting along with Dragon?" he mumbled.

"That's exactly what bothers me the most." she frowned. She looked at the crowd and found her wasted friends singing and dancing around the bar. She attached the two katanas to her back again and placed her coat on her shoulders. "Well, I'm gonna try and see if anyone knows anything about him since we're here…" she said as she grabbed her sake and walked away, leaving the confused Law alone with his thoughts. He stayed there by the bar and kept drinking while his mind was lining theories and possibilities for him to struggle with.

After an hour or so he looked around searching for Lilou. He was rather drunk after finishing two and a half large bottles of sake and it all just went to hell soon as his eyes caught her sitting among a group of men, clearly flirting with the biggest one of them as his hand was slowly moving with the intention of touching her butt. _Touching_ _HER!_ Law jumped and grabbed his nodachi. What the hell was she up to! He walked as fast as the crowd was letting him to. His blood was boiling with anger as he saw her following the man who was holding her waist now to a door at the end of the bar. Law clenched his teeth and growled like a wild animal and ran to them. He then walked in front of them and met Lilou's surprised eyes, her cheeks were flushed and her long black eyelashes were batting on her heavy eyelids. Law gazed at the man and noticed he was seeing Lilou through a phantom since his expressions seemed cockier than someone who would actually knew it was Monkey D. Lilou walking with him.

"Mind explaining where are you taking this young lady?" his voice was cold as ice. The man arrogantly showed his teeth and growled

"It's none of your business, you fucking brat!" obviously having no idea who Law was.

"I'm afraid it is, now get your fucking hands off my lady unless you don't mind loosing that filthy head of yours." Law calmly answered with the deadliest voice Lilou ever heard coming out of his mouth. _'My lady?!'_ Lilou thought shocked. Law unsheathed his nodachi halfway and stared at the man.

"Law! Stay out of this!" she coldly said staring at his angered face. His eyes were still fixed on the other man's face. The man narrowed his eyes and barked "Law you said? Could you be that infamous Trafalgar Law by any chance?"

"Chances are high I am. Now move your hand and get lost."

The man stilled for a second, then he laughed out as he turned around and said "Well, one spoiled whore isn't worth the trouble I gotta say. Here, have your _lady._ " he added a mocking tone to his last word and left. Law roughly grabbed Lilou's wrist and dragged her behind him outside the bar.

"Just what the fuck did you think you were doing?" he shouted in her face once they were outside.

Lilou shouted back as she was struggling to free her hand from his painfully strong grip "I was doing my damn business until you jumped in ruining it! The guy was a smuggler with connections all over the town! I was luring him into a private room so I could beat some information out of him and you just fucked it up you idiot!"

"Luring him?! So is this how you do your job while you're gone? Whoring around like the bitch you are with whomever it is, letting them fuck you so you can get _information_?" he yelled at her and slammed her back to the wooden wall of the building behind her. Her face turned red at his statement.

"Watch your mouth now you shitty monster! Whoring around like the bitch I am?! _How dare you how fucking dare YOU of all the people to call ME a whore? The only whore I can see here is YOU! AM I THE ONE WHOSE SHARING BED WITH EVERY DAMN WOMAN I SEE? I had never even kissed anyone before YOU! HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU LETTING YOURSELF CALL ME A WHORE HUH?!"_ she screamed at the top of her lungs as her whole body was shaking in rage. His face turned pale. He fucked up! He loosened his grip around her wrist

"I didn't mean that, you know I didn't! Stop screaming." he said calmly, probably the worst thing he could say as a response, he realized as soon as her eyes widened and she slapped his face with her free hand. His eyes went black for a second by the amount of power she poured into that slap.

"You disgust me, Trafalgar!" she said with a shivering voice. She just wanted to rip him apart at that moment. "You're a sick pervert and you disgust me to the point that I want to throw you into the sea and never see that face of yours ever again."

Her words hit him like bullets and he pressed his eyes shut as the taste of blood filled his mouth.

"So you think I'm disgusting. I see…" he steadily said with his low, male voice "Then you should know that the idea of _you_ sharing bed with others is _disgusting for_ _me_!" he looked deep in her wet grey eyes. He made her angry enough to cry, he noted.

"Why in the world do you even care?! Have I ever argued about _your_ sex life all these years? Why do you think you have the right t-"

He grabbed her throat with his other hand, pressing her through the wall he yelled "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! THAT GIVES ME THE RIGHT TO BE DISGUSTED WITH THE IDEA OF ANYONE ELSE FUCKING YOU!"

Lilou froze. Her mind went shut by the shock of what he just said. How could it be possible that right at the moment she thought she couldn't hate him more he managed to make it possible? Loved her?! Bullshit! How could he love her when he constantly made it obvious for her that he never cares for women in any way rather than fucking them?! How could he say he loves her while he was almost chocking her to death and breaking her hand at the same time, right after calling her a whore?! Just how this childhood friend of hers ended up being this fucked in the head?!

Law studied her puzzled face as he was breathing hard and heavy. Was she _that_ stupid? Wasn't it obvious from the beginning? Or was it simply because of his awful way of expressing his emotions? This whole thing was still new territory for him and he was doing nothing but trying to handle it the best way he knew! Didn't she know him at all?! He suddenly noticed how hard he was grabbing her throat and immediately let go of it. His eyes noticed the bruises on her delicate skin as they slowly started to heal. _'Dammit!'_

"Lil…" he desperately whispered and rested his forehead on the wall and her face got buried in his strong chest. He let go of her wrist and punched the wall right next to her head. She jumped at the sound. She had never seen him this desperate before. It was like he's struggling to keep his sanity. Lilou understood him, that didn't change the fact that she was still disturbed by his disgusting behavior, but she partly understood. It was the only way he knew.

"All I wanted was for you to react in some way, any way! So I know it's not going to be a complete failure like it turned out to be! I never wanted you to disgust me…" he mumbled above her head.

She lifted her hands slowly and hugged him. His eyes widened. She exhaled with exhaustion and whispered

"My… so you _are_ a complete baka after all."

He lifted his head from the wall and looked down into her eyes. They were soft now. No trace of anger could be found in them. Only surprise and slight amusement and _'Affection?!'_ he thought in disbelief.

"I believe I am." he whispered, then held her little angelic face with both hands and leaned down. Their hearts were beating loud and fast as their grey eyes locked on each other. Her warm breath was tickling his face, making him want to make love with her right there. She inhaled his scent, pine leafs mixed with a slight smell of steel, her favorites. And his steel grey irises looked like the most soothing things she ever laid her eyes on. Hearing him saying those words was something she never even dared to wish for, it felt unreal, more like a scene from a dream.

He stroked her silky hair and inhaled her sweet scent of carnation flowers. She brushed the tip of her soft finger on his lips. He was loosing his mind, how close she was to him at that moment, and it was literally his last chance to win her heart. Alcohol finally spoke those words in his place, and the thought of loosing her to his ego once again made him want to burn the whole island to the ground. Thinking about the operation she wanted him to perform on her, he noticed that even loosing her to herself was enough to drive him insane for the rest of his life. He gently leaned closer and pressed his lips on hers. She was burning. She kissed him back and ran her fingers on his chest. He continued kissing her with more passion, savoring her taste, her touch, her scent, she was the center of his universe, she was his treasure to protect and cherish with all his might. Loosing her was _not_ an option, not having her all for himself was _not_ an option.

Their scorching lips parted for a second, looking deep into her red irises he realized the only option was for him to keep her safe and alive, and to love her with everything he had.

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 **Reviews reviews reviews please write reviews guys I'm obsessed with them.**


	8. Time to live, time to love

**Author's note: Thank you so so much for reviews, favorites, follows and reading my story. They mean a LOT and so much encouraging.**

 **And here's the answer to one of the reviews- Lots of the events in this story aren't canon on the original story's timeline, as for Caesar being in north blue during the time he was supposed to be Vegapunk's lab partner. My idea for Caesar in this story is that he was in north blue, then he moved to nav** **y's lab in the new world while no one in the government knew that lab in north blue belonged to him. After the chemical weapon incident in Punk Hazard he gets arrested and reveals that lab belonged to him. Then he escapes and turns back to Punk Hazard after one year so that it could match the tim** **eline of this story.**

 **AND i'm very sorry for this terribly late update, exams were killing me! I hope you enjoy and please continue writing reviews and let me know how you like this story:D**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my ocs.**

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Chapter 8 - Time to live, time to love

Hoisting her body, Law slammed her against the wall next to his bed. Both panting and gasping for air, their burning lips joined into another passionate kiss as pure desire was radiating out of their bodies, heating up the air around them.

One hand gently slid down her perfect curves while the other locked both her tiny wrists above her head. He moved his lips to the sensitive spot on her neck he was previously busy with, making her shiver against his shirtless body.

She bit her bottom lip, trying to hold back the moan that was begging to come out of her mouth. His eyes didn't fail to catch the sight though, as he leaned his mouth closer to her ear

"Don't hold them back. Let me hear those cute moans." he whispered, his male voice was calm and arousing. Her lips parted as he ran his hand under her shirt, teasingly pinching and squeezing the area right under her breasts.

"Law…" she sweetly moaned under her breath. His ears heated up at the pleasing way his name sounded when coming out of her mouth like that. He buried his tattoed fingers into the mass of her silky hair, pulling her face closer to his

"Yes love…" he purred next to her ear, his voice filled with need and desire. He bucked his hips up against her, making her mind go blank for a second "A-aaah Law…" she whimpered as he bucked his hips again and started to trail kisses on her neck, her shoulder blade, her collar bone and up to her stretched arm.

"Say it, love. What do you want me to do?" his warm breath stroked her heated earlobe. She opened her half-drunk, blood-colored eyes to his beautiful face as tightening her legs around his waist, and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

For a second, she wondered how fantastic would it be to have his taste under her teeth as his spell-bounding scent filled her nose. She pushed back the thought terrified, feeling like a wild animal playing with it's prey before killing it. The idea made her body tense in terror. She needed to get away from him immediately, she was putting his life in danger more than any other time. No matter how much she was desiring him at that moment, it was impossible for her to have him.

Law released her hands and held her delicate face in his palms, knowing exactly what was happening in her mind

"Lil…" he placed another kiss on her lips, making her frown deeper, frustrated from the fight inside her head.

"Open your eyes." he commanded. She opened her eyes, surprised and even more aroused by his demanding voice.

"You should run…" she whispered, her lips brushing on his. He stroked her cheek and leaned his face even closer, savoring her delightful smell he smirked

"Do you want me to?" he asked playfully. Seeing her crimson irises was only making him more turned on than he already was.

"B-"

"You won't hurt me." he said steadily with a harsh voice, like it was something as simple as the sky being blue.

"You wouldn't know…" she murmured. Law stared at her face for a moment, her eyes full of passion and exhaustion. He smiled and kissed her scorching hot lips, drowning himself in her magnificence.

Lilou was the greatest paradox of his life. She was menacing and tranquilizing, a combination of sensitive and savage, pain and ease, darkness and light, chaos and calmness, strong and fragile, all at the same while. Easy to read, yet so hard to define. She truly was his greatest desire, fear, and his greatest salvation.

He parted his lips and stared into her magical eyes, shining like two ruby gemstones in the dark room

"You'll be more distracted to do so." he mumbled enticingly and smirked. She shocked for a second before gasping upon the feel of his erection on her lower abdomen as he thrusted against her. He buried his hand into her raven hair, tugging it downward so her neck was completely exposed to him. He placed his mouth on her throat and licked all the way through her earlobe, leaving a burning trace where his tongue traveled on her velvet-like skin. His other hand smoothly ran down on her hip, then he dug his fingers in her butt as he thrusted against her again. She exhaled loudly at the breathtaking tension forming in her abdomen, making her yearn for more of him. This was like nothing she felt before, the need to be filled by _him_ , the need to feel his erected length inside her rather than against her. She grind herself against his member and tugged his soft messy hair as she continued to sync her movements with his. He was driving her mad, and he hasn't even done anything yet, just teasing her by letting her feel a small bit of the enormous amount of pleasure he was capable of giving her.

He was pleasuring her as if he was tiptoeing on the edge of tenderness and coarseness, tugging her hair and biting her skin then softly kissing the bite marks while forcefully pressing her against the iron wall behind her and dug his fingers into her legs and hips like he wanted to pierce through her skin.

He smashed his lips to hers and kissed her with an unmeasurable amount of need, like she was the only thing he wanted from this world. His kiss was soft and dominating, a brilliant contradiction, she noted, like a thunderous calmness, a quiet fight.

"Law…" she groaned upon his mouth, not sure how much more of this lovely torture she could take. He hummed before taking the opportunity and rushing his tongue into her open mouth, exploring and playing with the tip of her tongue so skillfully and fervently, making her claw across his muscular shoulders and bury her nails into his tan skin as she drowned herself in the sweet sensation of his soft lips, dancing her tongue with his.

His muscles tensed and he hissed against her mouth upon feeling her nails jabbing into his skin. He thrusted against her harshly and pinned her body to the wall, only a short second before ripping off her top and tossing it across his shoulder.

He froze for a moment, struck amazed by the view of her exposed, flawless breasts. She truly was a work of art, a kind of an unearthly perfection, and she was finally his. At that moment, he felt like the luckiest man ever stepped on earth, for simply being able to witness such a masterpiece before his eyes.

He placed his forehead on Lilou's with a smirk on the corner of his lips, watching the expressions on her face as he pinched and rolled her pink nipple between his fingers and massaged her other breast at the same while with enough amount of pressure to make her pant and gasp for air even more than she already was.

She was already soaking wet inside her panties, and at this rate it wouldn't be surprising if Law could feel her wetness through her jean shorts against his abdomen, which he did.

"For someone who wants to pass on this…" he smirked sliding his fingers down to her crotch and grabbed her vagina through the cloths "You are, so-fucking-wet!" he pressed it rigidly, making her yelp at the sudden touch. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she panted even harder

"Law… I can't! I can't take it any longer…" she whimpered between her heavy gasps and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, trying to keep her balance. He gazed into her eyes still smirking at her

"What do you want me to do?" he asked again, mumbling into her ear.

"Do you even need to ask!?" she whispered seductively and pushed herself against his heated body. He slowly licked her ear playfully and breathed against it

"Oh I wouldn't know unless you tell me, love." his male voice sent shivers down her spine. She brushed her face against his neck as she looked up and grabbed his face. Red and grey irises met, and her finger slowly traced the lining of his lips. She stared deep into his endless stormy eyes

"I want you to throw me on that bed and make love with me like tomorrow's gonna be the fuckin' end of this world." she whispered calm and steady with her fingers still brushing on his lips. His eyes widened for a brief second at her blunt statement, and she smirked tauntingly, feeling his erection grew even harder against her stomach.

It only took him a heartbeat to lift her up again and carry her to his bed while placing his mouth on hers and grabbing her waist tightly.

He pushed her off his body harshly, throwing her on the mattress, and crawled on top of her on all four. Leaning his head down, he stole another kiss from her scorching lips "As you wish." he said right before moving his handsome head down and start to nibble and pinch on her perky breasts.

She threw her head backwards, every single cell in her body was begging for more. With every stroke of his warm breath against her skin, and with every movement of his tongue on her nipples, she was struggling more and more to keep her senses together, to not fall deeper into the ocean of pleasure waiting for her to be drowned in.

Law stopped suddenly, gazing up at her flushed face. He leaned up to her eye level, staring at her for a second.

"Stop using your head so much." he said calmly. Lilou's questioning eyes widened and the words dried on her tongue as she felt his hot fingers sliding inside her panties and start circling on her clit. He smirked at her expression and swiftly dragged down her shorts and panties. She was soaking wet, completely exposed before his shocked eyes.

Lilou flushed even harder in embarrassment. Being this exposed and vulnerable before Law made her want to cover herself with the nearest object, only for a moment before catching his struck amazed eyes. He was savoring her view with such admiration as if she was the most breathtaking treasure on earth.

And for some reason, Lilou felt the unease and shyness washing away from her. To being looked at with such praise by him, was somehow making her proud of herself. For the first time in her life, she was completely fine with herself, how she looked and how she was with no masks or acts, just her true self being accepted and admired by the man she loved the most, right there and then, even her abnormal eyes weren't bothering her anymore. She just knew he would always want her exactly as she was.

And how exactly damn much right she was, she had the slightest idea. Law was finding himself thinking just simply looking at her for the rest of his life was more than enough for him. If everything else was to be taken away from him, just having Lilou by his side was enough to make his life complete. And he just desperately wanted to let her feel truly how much she meant to him. Words could do fine, just not fine enough to express how much he loved her, and how much he desired every single bit of her being.

"You're so…" he purred as he leaned down "… _good!_ "

He grabbed her chin and stole another kiss from her lips before leaning down on her body, trailing soft kisses on her skin all the way down to her thighs and before giving her time to object, threw her legs on his shoulder and went down starting to lick and suck on her clit so profoundly that she stopped breathing for few seconds. He continued pleasuring her with his tongue as her pleasure suddenly seemed to became his. Hearing her whimper and feeling her body shiver under his hands and how wet she was for _him_ , all the perfection and desire that was filling the air around them was making him insane. He put one finger on her entrance and slowly slid it inside her. She gasped and clawed to the mattress upon the feeling of his finger inside her body. He pulled it out and thrusted in again, harder this time. She arched her back and moaned his name load. Every sound she made, every movement of her body, every second of her being was pushing him more and more farther from the reality of this world. _She_ was all he saw, felt, and cared for.

He pulled out the finger and added another one before thrusting in again. Every breath of hers became a sweet moan as he continued to skillfully move his tongue and thrust his fingers in and out, hitting her G spot continuously. She couldn't resist anymore, the tightness in her lower abdomen was getting tenser with every touch of his fingers on her G spot, and a tingling feeling was building up right where her kakuhou was, the same kind of feeling she got when the energy was about to explode in the form of her kagune when she was heating up to fight.

"Law!…" she whimpered and buried her fingers deeper in his hair "Law I'm… a-aahh… I'm…"

Law knew exactly how close she was as her tight walls were getting even tighter around his fingers. He groaned and added more speed as she arched her stomach and cried out his name. Her mind was going completely blank and she was traveling further to the gate of a never been before dimension. Just a heartbeat before she was about to go over the edge, he stopped.

She exhaled sharply and opened her eyes wide open just to see that familiar sadistic smirk on his handsome face as he grabbed her waist and pulled her body closer. He lowered his head in front of her face while leaning his upper body on his elbow, and went for a kiss, letting her have a taste of herself.

"Law…" Lilou mumbled the second he broke the kiss, trying to warn him about the feeling she had in her Kakuhou "I was-"

He smirked again "I just can't let you have all the fun. Old habits."

"No I- A-ahhhh!" she almost screamed at the feeling of his hard member entering her. He was painfully large for her and he knew it well enough to wait a few seconds to let her stretch and adjust to his length. She completely forgot what she was trying to tell him as he moved his mouth on the weak spot on her neck and thrusted in gently.

The pain was gone, only an immoderate sense of ecstasy was there to overcome her inch by inch, as she was savoring the wholeness of those moments, being caressed while in his warm embrace and becoming one with each other.

And every little noise leaving her mouth was encouraging Law to pleasure her even more. Her soft skin under his touch, the dazzling smell of her body and the tightness of her walls around him, the whole awesomeness of the situation was making him wonder how much longer he could hold himself.

She hissed soon as he threw her legs on his shoulder and started circling her clit with his practiced finger, and hitting her core even harder and deeper. The tingling feeling in her kakuhou was coming back and this time it was getting much stronger with each moment passing by.

"Lil…" he groaned into her ear. She gasped against his chest and felt the overwhelming tension in her abdomen explode and bursting out as he pushed her over the edge by one final strike to her core.

Her vision faded along with all other senses linking her to this world as she threw her head backwards, riding on her orgasm. And another explosion of vermilion and amethyst on her shoulders lightened up their shuddering bodies and the air around them.

Without her controlling the kagune, her shining wings moved and embraced Law's body while he reached the peak just moments after her, drowned in pure pleasure and praise, and amazed of how ethereal she seemed like. Being at the embrace of her realest form and her realest feelings drove his mind away as he buried his face in the crook of her neck and emptied himself inside her.

It took Lilou a couple of minutes to completely come back and open her burning eyes. The light of her kagune was reflecting on her face. Law smoothly placed his palm on her cheek and kissed her shoulder before lifting his head. The light was dancing on his tan skin and a spark of purple and red was reflected on his steel grey eyes as he was looking at her beautiful face like it was the largest diamond in the the whole world. He stroked her face gently

"You're so _beautiful_." he whispered calmly to her face. She reached up her hands and placed a soft kiss on his lips while holding his face.

"Law, that was… amazing!" she whispered while studying his struck amazed face, shining under the purple light at its left side. That was a sight to remember.

"The best of the best!" he chuckled doing Lilou's impression. She laughed and stole another kiss. Her expression suddenly changed into an almost serious one.

"What's wrong?!" he frowned worriedly "You ok?"

"Yeah I'm…" she smiled at him "I wanna show you something." she said softly and stroked his raven hair "It's easier than to say it."

"Wha-" he stopped immediately as random images started to appear before his eyes. Places, people, voices, and himself!

He was fourteen, sitting under the shadow of a three surrounded by tons of books. Shachi, Penguin and Bepo were training few meters away. He was seeing himself through the eleven year old Lilou's eyes. She looked down at a book in her little hands while trying to ignore the sound of her heart drumming in her ears. She lightly stepped towards Law and he only noticed she was there when her body shadowed the pages he was reading. He looked up at her with a cold expression on his face.

"What?" he asked somehow irritated. Lilou tried to smile normally like she always did

"I got you a new one!" she said excited and handed him the book. He looked at the cover and rolled his eyes "Where'd you get it?"

"I umm… borrowed it."

"You mean stole it?" he smirked mockingly "I already have it. Ask before you go and get yourself in trouble." he sneered at her dusty clothes and threw the book back at her. She frowned and caught it in the air

"You can't even say 'thank you'! _Asshole!_ " she barked at him and turned around running to their boat with tears running out of her eyes.

Then there he was again, around seventeen, hanging out in a local bar and peering at a blonde girl. She was a pirate and Law was planning to steal their gold and add it to their own saving for the sub by getting close to her, plus, that frustration on Lilou's face made it even funnier for him. Somewhere in the middle of their conversation, he carefully put his hand on the pirate girl's waist, she smiled at him and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Lilou fisted her hands so hard that her nails pierced through her skin. She turned and ran out of the bar, heading for those pirates' ship. She jumped on board the empty ship and headed to the captain's room. When she found it, she grabbed all their golds, kicked a hole in the wall and threw it all down to the seafloor. Then she lit a fire in every level of the ship, from the bottom to the main mast, and she sat there on the burning deck and let her voice fade amongst the sound of destruction and fire as she cried out.

The memories were getting shorter and bloodier as they went on. There was Law kissing a redhead right where he knew Lilou would see, then there was Lilou screaming while slaughtering a huge bunch of thieves. A brunette leaving his room in the morning, and then Lilou slicing pirates and wrecking their ship with bare hands. He was drinking while two whores were sitting on his lap, she was tearing a street gang's limbs apart. And suddenly at one point, she blocked all her feelings for Law. Ignored them with all her might and she went completely numb on him.

The last memory, was just a little while earlier, when she fell asleep on his bed on their first night in the Polar Tang. Law kissed her and she felt like her whole life is finally coming together, then she remembered everything she saw and all the effort she put to keep her heart away from falling for him, she decided to to give him a chance which got completely ruined by his dumb answer.

Law was totally speechless seeing all those memories of hers from years ago to the very present. He was feeling ashamed, shocked, relieved, guilty, happy, all at once. He frowned at the new memory, she was flying towards a pirate ship with Sakura, it was night time but if he tried he could see the jolly roger. It looked like a skull wearing some sort of a hat-

"That's all…" she mumbled and cut the connection. He opened his eyes to her grey ones and stared into them with absolute confusion in the dark room. He opened his mouth to ask but closed it again when he couldn't find the right words, or even the right question, there were just too many. She giggled at his puzzled face

"Now you know." she laughed "That makes the two of us being idiots."

"Lilou!" he mumbled and shook his head "Why did yo- you could… I mean you… I was there _the whole time!_ Why didn't you just... I don't know, sneak into my mind?!" he asked and kept staring at her in disbelief.

"You _know_ I never use that power on my friends!" she frowned and pouted at him "It's disrespectful! _It's creepy!_ "

"Wha-" his eyes widened and he bursted out in laughter "My God! You're unbelievable, Monkey D. Lilou!"

"Why're you laughing!" she groaned and frowned deeper "It _is!_ How would you feel if you knew I'm sneaking inside your head?!"

"Oh darling…" he chuckled "I would feel relieved! Trust me it was getting really devastating waiting for you to show a little sign of jealousy!" he continued while still giggling then rolled to his side and cuddled her. She rolled her eyes and hummed "Baka!"

"Lil?" his calm voice stroked her ear while he was holding her in his arms from behind. She slightly turned her face around to look him in the eyes "Yes..."

"You do know it's only you, right? It's always been you." he whispered soothingly and stroked a lock of her silky hair behind her ear. She studied his face for a while. He was calm as ever, but not a single track of his typical coldness could be found on his face, and his eyes seemed like the warmest charm that could ever exist. She trusted him with her life, literally. If he was saying so-

"I do know now." she said softly and turned her body to him completely. He buried his slender fingers in the mass of her hair and kissed the top of her head

"Good." he whispered and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her fragile body against his warm one.

"Good…" she mumbled half awake, and in a matter of seconds, she fell deep asleep in his arms. Law buried his face into her hair and smiled while inhaling her scent, and between those moments of falling asleep, images of a skull wearing a hat crept into his half awake mind.

She opened her eyes to the dim light of the morning sun, it was earlier than she usually used to wake. She rolled around carefully and smiled at Law's handsome face, still deep asleep. Memories of their last night together coming to her mind made her smile even wider. The constant heaviness in her chest felt much more lighter and she was feeling a new sort of energy flowing inside her.

She sat on bed as quietly as possible and stretched her arms, thinking about how badly she wanted to go outside and enjoy the early morning vibes with this good mood she was in. She turned and leaned down swiftly placing a kiss on his cheek, then got out of the bed and left the room after gathering her clothes from the corners of it.

After taking a quick shower and changing into clean clothes, she grabbed her katanas and headed out to the kitchen. Sakura wasn't in her room, that meant she would either be in the kitchen or wherever else that Bepo was. While humming a song to herself she entered the kitchen to find it empty. The clock was showing six in the morning.

"Hmmm… they'll wake up in half an hour or so." she stated to the furniture and turned around to leave. Sakura was sleeping next to Bepo on the upper deck. For a moment she wanted to wake her, then on a second thought, she decided she rather take a walk alone in the town.

The shops were just starting to open their business when she entered the town, and the streets weren't as crowded as last day which was sort of relaxing even for Lilou's outgoing character. She spent some time tiptoeing on the side walks, stopped by a few shops, bought a weird looking compass almost by force because the woman who was selling them just wouldn't let her go until she bought it, and it looked kinda funny so she wasn't completely feeling robbed, and then she went to explore some tiny and empty alleys in the downtown. There really wasn't anything interesting in those alleys and after a while she was just trying to find her way back to the main street and go to the execution platform again. Yesterday a tiny old grandma told her about a pirate boy named Monkey D. Luffy who apparently nearly got executed on that platform by Buggy the Clown, and a lightning strike saved his head and almost ruined the platform. It was fixed though by the time she was looking at it.

Something about Loguetown was bothering her, not because of the events she was hearing about, but because no matter how hard she was trying, she couldn't find a connection between nearly any of those events. And she was dying for an opportunity to get Smoker's touch. Getting close to him inside his base was a fishy idea. If her body was in a better state, it was possible to somehow touch him in a close combat. Considering his logia type devil's fruit, only a Haki user could manage to actually touch him, and she was pretty sure he wouldn't expect a seventeen year old rookie have a powerful enough Haki to do so. But then again, she wasn't sure how much pressure her body could take. _'Avoiding battles, oh that's just great!'_ she thought bitter to herself and looked up taking a deep breath, only she forgot to exhale as her bright eyes landed on an old wooden sign of a bar hanging above her head.

" _Gold_ Roger?!" she asked out curious into the empty alley while tilting her head. Without a second thought, she followed the stairs down to the bar's door as she was growling to herself

"D. it's D.! _Gol D. Roger!_ Geez!" she opened the wooden door wide and walked into the bar with heavy steps.

"Hmm?!" she looked around disappointed. It seemed like the bar has been out of business for a long time. All chairs were turned onto the tables and a layer of dust was covering most of the surfaces. Her hand quickly moved to her back, ready to unsheathe her katana soon as she heard footsteps from the back of the room. She knew she probably didn't have to be worried but kept her defensing position just in case, only to twist her brows as an extremely wizened old man stepped out. She laughed at her exaggerated reaction in her head and rested her hand. The old man tottered as he stepped forward with a glass of drink in his hand. He stopped and narrowed his already half-closed eyes at Lilou.

"Eh, it's you again." he laughed out with a hoarse voice "I didn't recognize you without my glasses, hahahah! I'm looking for them right now." he said and pointlessly looked around, apparently searching for his glasses. Lilou just stared at him with a half opened mouth

"Huh?!"

"AAAHH there it is!" the old man shouted and grabbed his glasses out of his shirt's front pocket. He looked back at Lilou and froze for a second.

"Oh? I thought you were a boy! Where were you hiding these huge boobs the other day, pirate king?! Hahahahah!"

"SHUT UP! HENTAI JIJI!" Lilou screamed at him annoyed. What the fuck was wrong with this perverted old man!? _'He must be delusional or some shit!'_

"Eh? Whatever, you were much more amusing the other day." he said offended and turned back walking behind the bar "The bar is closed for now, get out of here!"

"What other day?!" she asked really irritated "I've never been in here before! I was going to the execution platform when I saw the name of your bar. I just wanted to check it out." she shrugged and turned on her heels "Whatever…" she mumbled to herself as she was stepping outside, but she froze in the frame. Looking at him over her shoulder, she narrowed her big eyes

"Oy jii-san?!"

"Hmm?"

"What is this guy you were talking about looks like?"

"Who? Gold Roger?"

"D. it's Gol D. …" she shook her head "The one hiding her boobs… his boobs.. I mean he- dammit! The one yo-"

"Oh you're talking about the boy who didn't drink? Hahahaha! Just like you except for the boobs and probably something down there ahahahahah!"

Lilou clenched her teeth and counted to ten before deciding wether to rip off his head or not.

"Oh? Oh! Now, I _think_ he even had a scar like the one you got under your eye!" the old man said with a more serious tone while narrowing his eyes on Lilou's face. Lilou raised an eyebrow at him. So Luffy was here too _'And he doesn't drink?! Cute ass baka!'_ she thought amused and smiled. They were twins afterall, she even cut under her eye after Luffy did so they wouldn't look that much different, no wonder someone as old and nearly blind as this old man would think she was Luffy at the first glimpse. She almost felt guilty for shouting at him.

"Say…" he said with his trembling voice "Do you want a drink?"

"Hmm?" she looked back at him "Isn't the bar closed?"

He shook his hand in the air and mumbled something to himself while picking a bottle of rum

"It doesn't really make a difference." he slammed a glass in front of Lilou who was sitting on the last chair behind the bar, the only seat that wasn't as dusty as everywhere else.

"That damned Smoker seriously ruined my business here!" he continued bitter as he poured the rum in the two glasses.

"Smoker?" Lilou asked cautiously "Is he one of your customers?"

"God no! Well, not really. I'm just glad he's leaving this town."

Lilou nearly choked on her drink "He's leaving?! When?" she asked while leaning on the table.

"When… uh let me think…" the old man mumbled absentmindedly while looking down at her breasts. She slammed her hands on the wooden surface and made him jump

"OH FOR GOD'S SAKE STOP STARING AT ME!" he panicked for a second at her incredibly sharp scream and took a step backwards "Eh no no I was… let me think… he stopped by last night and mentioned he's leaving after the ceremony in a day or two-"

"What ceremony?!" she asked hurriedly.

"The party the… ceremony for the new mayor. Are you a sailor? Everyone knows about the ceremony! Oy! Oy wait!!! where are you going?" he shouted behind her as she was rushing out of the bar "This drink was _not_ on the house! wait!" he followed her out while still shouting. Lilou laughed out while running up the stairs "Sailor? Nah I'm a _pirate,_ Yehihihihihi!" she continued laughing childishly "THANKS FOR THE DRINK JII-SAN! SEE YAAAA!"

"HUH PIRATE?? WELL THEN IT IS ON THE HOUSE HAHAHAHAHA!" he yelled back at her before she vanished into the alley.

"This is great this is _just perfect!"_ she was running down the main street, determined to find a way to get herself into that party "Just you wait for me Smokey!" she laughed out and added to her speed.

Just a little while earlier, back in the sub, Law opened his eyes to see her side of the bed empty. A dreadful growl started shaping in his throat as he threw the blanket away, stood up and started getting dressed hurriedly.

He growled out heated up by anger as he grabbed his nodachi and headed for the door

 _"WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?!"_

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 **I realy wish you enjoyed this chapter, and there will be more soon... if you write reviews! Also that was my first try writing a lemon and I still have no idea!**


	9. Survival game

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my ocs.**

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Chapter 9 - Survival game

"Aaaah what a nice and peaceful morning," Shachi stretched his arms "I'm starting to get worried!" he said as his face lightly twisted. Uni frowned at him in confusion

"What?!"

"I know!" Penguin groaned and looked at the clock on kitchen's wall "It's seven already, man it feels like the calm before the storm!"

"Should we check?!" Shachi asked while tapping on his chin. Penguin slightly shivered as he remembered the last time he interfered.

"Let it go." Bepo calmly said while chewing on his fishbone "I don't feel any tension in the air yet, they're fine… probably." he stated as relaxed as ever without moving his eyes from the rusty map in his paw. This map of the Grand Line he was looking at with a little frown on his face, was worrying him more than to think about anything else.

"Oy!" Clione said annoyed "Do you ever plan telling us what's wrong?!"

Uni hummed and nodded harshly at Shachi and Penguin. Ikkaku too was staring at them curiously.

"It's the _routine!_ "

"What routine?!" Ikkaku narrowed her eyes. Penguin sighed and moved his cap on his blonde hair

"You guys joined the crew while Lilou-chan was away so… you see the _routine_ basically starts before breakfast, then it happens again like three or four times -at best- during the day."

The three new members tilted their heads and kept staring at him with raised brows. Shachi continued

"Yeah, we know it's happening when we hear either Law or Lilou-chan starts shouting and then the whole place starts shaking or at the best case which is _very_ rare one of them shows up all grumpy and they keep ignoring or roasting each other for few hours until the next phase of the routine." he explained so typically like he was telling them about the shogatsu festival. Uni's eyes widened in shock

"They argue _that_ much?!"

Penguin let out a sarcastic laughter and slammed on Uni's shoulder

"Oh you wish, my friend! Hahahaha! Trust me you better hope never to see them doing that!"

Bepo took his eyes off the map and frowned at him

"You're exaggerating!" he groaned and shook his head before going back to studying the map again. Shachi stared at him in disbelief and leaned on the dining table

"Huh?!" he slammed both hands on the table as he nearly shouted "You forgot how many boats we lost while they were on rampage fighting each other to death?!"

" _WHATT?!_ " Uni and Clione shouted in unison with terrified expressions. Ikkaku raised an eyebrow

"So how's this two captain thing even working if they argue that much?!"

"Oh it's not about that!" Penguin laughed out "When it comes to the captain responsibilities they're like one mind. They just fight over stuff, like, literally small, simple stuff!"

Ikkaku's next question didn't make it out of her mouth as her eyes landed on the vexed face of her captain walking into the kitchen with his eyes pacing through every corner of the room. Penguin immediately tensed, watching Law's tall figure stopping a few steps away from the table, sending murderous gazes at them with his fingers locked around his nodachi.

"Showtime!" Shachi let out a short cough covering the words. Law's furious eyes landed on him for a second before asking

"Where is Lilou?"

His voice was dangerously calm, which meant he was angrier than to even sound like it. Bepo finally threw the map on the table and rubbed his eyes, he then looked at Law

"Morning Law." he said casually "She's not here, maybe she's in her office."

"She's not."

"The infirmary?" Penguin asked carefully while slumping in his chair.

"She's not anywhere on the ship." Law stated with the same threatening calm voice as he sat behind the table.

"Well she must've gone out earlier since… we haven't… seen her… yet…" Uni's voice dropped slowly and his face turned completely pale as Law suddenly stood up again, growling like a wild animal. He turned to the door without saying any more words and left the kitchen.

The air around them remained pretty tense for a minute after he was gone, until Shachi cleared his throat and broke the uncomfortable silence

"Yeah that was a half assed _routine._ " he announced. Ikkaku twisted her brows

"It wasn't… that bad!" she said somehow uncertain about how true her statement was. Clione's eyes widened staring at her

"Did you not see his face?! He was ready to bite someone's head off just because he couldn't find her!"

"Oh, come on!" Uni snarled at him "He was clearly angry about some other shit."

"Nah, I told you…" Penguin shrugged and rolled his eyes "That's just what they do. Fuck I just hope she doesn't come back anytime soon!" he twisted his face thinking about the potential of another fighting session. Bepo grabbed the map again as he stood up with a frown on his face

"You better wish otherwise. We have a problem we need to discuss with both of them as soon as possible."

"What problem?!" Clione's question remained unanswered as Bepo just left the kitchen while absentmindedly rubbing the back of his head with his eyes locked on the map.

Still irritated, Law kept pacing through the infirmary looking for something to distract him from the thoughts of being betrayed and ignored and everything else he was thinking and feeling. He was taking overthinking to some whole new extremes since the moment he woke up finding out she had left his side while he was sleeping. That was just unacceptable, after what they shared last night, how could she just leave him there and go out?!

He felt betrayed, even worse than betrayed, he was feeling used! She was just merely amusing herself with him, he concluded. And those memories she showed him, were all about nothing but a childish crush she once may had on him.

" _Dammit!_ " he shouted and kicked a wall before letting his exhausted body fall on his chair. It was all his fault again, allowing her to get her revenge for being humiliated after having him confess to his love for her, and letting himself believe that he could actually have what he always wanted to have with her. She just played him, like she always played everyone else. And he was mad at himself more than he was mad at Lilou. _He_ was the one who let his guard down, _he_ was the one who fell for the idea that she actually felt the same, basically, _he_ was the one being absolutely and literally stupid to think Lilou could really love someone like him.

"To hell with it!" he grumbled and pressed his fists against his eyes. If that was the way she wanted to play, he could play dirtier just perfectly. Letting out a deep breath, he picked up a file laying on his desk. _'Awesome, more of her!'_ he thought annoyed looking at her handwriting. It was the file she prepared for him to study her stupid thesis.

His eyes sluggishly moved from one page to another for minutes, only to frown and sit straight as he stopped on a specific graph she had drawn. She was written down all the change of percentages she calculated in just an hour after injecting her DNA into all those organs, and compared them to the ones from Caesar Clown's records on her in ten months. The difference was drastically huge. Caesar's numbers only reached higher for a short amount of time after each case of cannibalism, then dropping even lower than the previous ones. He was only reaching successful records by feeding her with other Ghouls, and the results weren't even stable on a long-term scale. Lilou's recent calculations on the other hand, were showing raise in the quantity of Rc cells by the percentage of 2 per minute, without any kind of nutrition from the outside.

He frowned deeper while tapping his finger on his chin as he continued reading. Everything seemed terribly promising, and the fact that it was coming from Lilou's subtle and incisive mind, was making it even harder for him to object. He went back and re-read the file over and over again, looking for the slightest possible error, but in the end, not even one single exclude or misjudgment managed to catch his sharp eyes. She covered every possible question his obsessive mind could come up with in those pages, and even went further explaining, defending and giving solutions to every tiny potential case of physical and mental side-effect that could occur.

As much as it was painful for him to accept, his opinion on her thesis being nothing more than a fantasy, was one hundred percent and completely changed. It could perfectly work out, only if she managed to fight back the general weakness of her body during the operation. He spent the following three hours studying the labeled organs she had prepared, with such focus that he didn't even notice the light footsteps entering the infirmary.

"My! you read the file? I thought I had to force you into it!" her cheerful voice getting closer to him from behind made him clench his jaw.

All the anguish and rage he was feeling towards her came back to him at once. He counted to five before facing her, covering his face with his most typically nonchalant expression and erasing any kind of emotion from his steel-like eyes. Sending a cold glance at her, he nodded his head after taking his eyes off her grinning face

"I said I'll look into it."

Lilou's wide smile dropped immediately by the awful amount of coldness pouring out his voice and she stopped walking. She shook her head and started to move again until she was standing right in front of him.

"And?" she asked hopefully while staring at his figure.

"And what?" he answered without taking his eyes off the microscope on the table. She frowned

"Can we do it sooner than a week?"

"Maybe." he almost whispered, still ignoring her eyes. She crossed her arms and stared at him for few seconds with twisted eyebrows. He was acting like nothing out of normality happened last night. It was the typical Law who was feeling like being a jerk she was looking at, not the sweet and loving one she slept with just hours ago! After gazing at the top of his hat for a couple minutes she rolled her eyes

"Alright, you know whatever you're looking at probably won't be growing legs running away right?"

He distanced his face just a little bit from the microscope and raised an eyebrow at her while still leaning on the table. Looking directly into his freezing eyes, she shocked for a second _'Nah, he would so not do that!'_

"What's wrong?" he asked with a very slight trace of mockery in his voice. She widened her bright grey eyes and moved her head closer to his

"Uh, your attitude?" she tilted her head "What's wrong with _you?!"_

He sighed and stretched his neck backwards then kept staring back at her from the other side of the table while leaning his upper body on both hands. He studied her confused eyes for a moment

"Nothing's wrong, I'm looking into your thesis." he kept his voice as uninterested as possible, determined to make her feel as uncomfortable as he could. She put her palms on the metal table a few inches away from his

"Law-" she narrowed her eyes "Do you… remember anything specific from last night?! Like, us having sex, or you know something like that?!"

He smirked at her questioning face "Of course I do! That was really fun actually!"

She straightened her back and tried to smile at him "Ok, so… why are you acting weird and all?!"

He stood straight too and frowned before starting to add to his notes "I'm exactly as I always am, Saru."

"Yeah! That's the weird thing!"

He stopped writing and looked at her from the corner of his eyes "How did you expect me to act? Waving an 'I heart Lilou' banner on the deck?!" he smirked again.

"You can't be serious…" she almost whispered, trying to keep herself calm and keeping her jaw from falling to the floor. _'It's just a very bad joke!'_ she thought. He shrugged and walked towards his working desk

"I am. So we slept together, big deal!" he dropped the notebook on his desk and turned around gazing at her with his eyes viciously shining "Although, we can do it again if you liked it that much." a mocking smile was forming on the corner of his lips.

Lilou stood there looking at him without saying a word, just wishing she didn't love the equipment in the infirmary that much, so she could smash his fucking head on every object around. She shook her head in disbelief

"You're unbelievable…" her voice was slightly shaking in rage "I would fucking kill you right here and now if anyone else could perform that operation on me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he raised his brows as if he was shocked "I didn't mean to force you into anything, I just said we _could_ since you seem pretty concerned about it."

"SHUT YOUR FUCKIN' MOUTH, YOU SICK BASTARD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and threw four dangerously sharp scalpels right at his face, which he dodged without even blinking, just keeping his eyes on her blood-colored ones and continued mocking her with that wicked smirk. She turned and held up her middle finger for him as she stormed out. Law's smirk only faded when the last feather of her coat disappeared from the corner of the doorframe. That was harder than he expected it to be, even for a second in the middle of their conversation, he was about to fall for her innocent eyes again. He sighed, trying to erase her raged face from his mind as he went back to his work.

Lilou kept raging inside the corridors pointlessly as she was more furious to be able to think clearly where she's heading. She was disgusted, by literally everything. Disgusted by the very first time they met, all those years they lived together, everything they did, everywhere they've been, everything he touched, everything about Law was making her sick. She was even disgusted by herself for letting him have his way with her. He was nothing more than a sick bastard, and she knew it. For fuck's sake she already knew it and yet she let herself fall for his words. _'I should've fuckin' eat him in that cave!'_ she was hurt, probably more than any other time before, and she was clearly feeling her heart shattering into pieces, but she couldn't even cry. The whole thing was just too surreal to absorb. Slamming the upper deck's door wide open, she almost made Clione fall off the railings as she walked forward with heavy steps and pure fury flaming in her red and black eyes.

"Where's everyone?" she grunted at his terrified face.

"In the navigating room, I was looking for you, Lilou-chan!" he tried to cover the fear in his voice "Bepo said he wants to discuss something important with everyone and captain Law said he doesn't know where you are so I was checking everywhere!" he explained quickly. Lilou growled hearing Law's name

"DAMMIT I LOVE THE NAVIGATING ROOM!" she screamed out and two flaring wings pierced their way out through her shoulders "I CAN'T KILL HIM THERE EITHER!" she was breathing hard and her chest was feeling heavier than usual. Clione carefully took one step towards her, shocked by the sight of her activated kagune.

"Lilou-chan…" he said as calmly as he could "I… joined this crew because I knew I would have not one, but two strong and dependable leaders by my side while I'm following my dream…"

His sudden change of attitude gained Lilou's attention. She looked right into his eyes as he continued "And I'm pretty sure I made the right choice. And right now, whatever it is that makes you furious enough to scream such a thing about Law, please try to find the strength to remember there're six other people in here who deeply believe in you, love you and respect you, so… please just, think of your nakama when you need comfort, and the fact that no matter what happens, you can always just rely on _us_ … and also, please come to the navigating room with me cause I don't think Bepo was in his best mood!" the worry of making her angrier washed off from his face soon as her wings vanished into the air and her eyes turned back to their bright original color. She studied his face for few seconds before grinning at him

"That was a funny attempt to calm an angry Ghoul, I liked it!" she laughed childishly to his relieved face "Let's go, now I'm dying to know what is it that managed to drag Bepo outta his good mood!" she said jumping towards the metal door. Clione laughed at her unexpected calmness and started running after her "Aye captain!"

Outside the navigating room, she hesitated before opening the door and looked back at the brown-haired man standing behind her. She gathered all her strength to smile and nearly whispered "Arigatō, Clione." before stepping into the room. Black spots on the white fluffy hat resting on Law's head, wasn't the best first thing to catch her eyes as she entered. He was sitting on Bepo's desk and his eyes were shadowed by the visor of his hat, he didn't turn his head even an inch as Lilou walked inside. Bepo turned to her

"Oh hey Lil. We were waiting for you guys." he then walked behind the same desk Law was lounging on "Alright everyone, come here." he tapped his white furry finger on a map "This is the map of the Grand Line you stole years ago, Lilou. Now, we're the closest we've ever been to entering the Grand Line, and since we already bought or stole everything we needed, I don't think we have any more business here in Loguetown. So I say we can leave today if any of you can solve this one thing that's been freaking me out since I woke up!"

Lilou shook her head "We're not leaving today. There's this party or ceremony thing in town tonight. Smokey's gonna be there, and so am I. Then there's this one other thing I should do before entering the Grand Line, so we have like four days or so." she explained to Bepo. Law's jaw clenched as she mentioned the ceremony and looked at her from the corner of his eyes, but remained quiet. Bepo nodded once

"Ok, that's better. We can ask around if we couldn't come up with anything. But for now…" He grabbed the old map and held it up for them so they could all see it while he explained "The entrance of the Grand Line is through the Reverse Mountain. I never thought it would be true but, that mountain is actually what we're supposed to sail on to get into that ocean. Like, we literally have to climb a mountain up from this side and then down on the other side in order to enter the Grand Line."

The room fell into an awkward silence for few seconds. Law frowned at the map and looked at it more carefully

"He's right! There's something like a pathway drawn on the Reverse Mountain…"

"What do you mean climb the mountain?!" Shachi asked narrowing his eyes at the map _"How?_ "

"That's exactly my problem!" said Bepo annoyed "I would say we can rely on the engine's force but I don't think it's gonna be that simple. And I can't be sure anytime before reaching the mountain, or at least being close enough to see if there's anything like abnormal sea currents or something like that."

Ikkaku grabbed her chin while twisting her eyebrows "We don't even know what this mountain looks like, I just keep imagining a huge mountain with a big flat peak! You know, literally, reversed!"

"Um, guys…" Lilou finally talked and everyone turned to her, except for Law who was still studying the map so concerned that his nose was almost touching the paper. Lilou looked at Bepo and said "We already knew most people go into the Grand Line through Reverse Mountain, but I was specifically looking into it from the Marines' memories I was crafting recently. When I got Garp's touch, I realized they're constantly using the Calm Belt to enter or exit the Grand Li-"

"Calm Belt is filled with sea kings, we'll be eaten along with the Polar Tang the second we enter it!" Law interrupted and nonchalantly stated without taking his eyes off the map. She twinkled her nose and tried not to yell at him in response

"No shit?!" she rolled her eyes "I'm not finished yet. They have this technology which they cover the bottom of their battleships with kairoseki. Apparently, it releases some sort of energy that keeps the sea kings away." she grinned at Penguin "I can steal some today and you'll attach them under the sub." she said cheerfully. His face melted as she said it

"Why am I always the one doing this kind of stuff!?"

"Because you're better than any of us at this stuff."

His cheeks slightly flushed and he tried not to look happy about her compliment "Fine that's right! I'll do it."

Law scoffed from the other side of the room "And the fact that she's better than any of us at manipulating people." he said mockingly.

Everybody tensed as a dark shadow covered Lilou's face. She glared at him with a murderous look in her eyes

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked dangerously calm. He smirked

"I just pointed out your boldest quality. Take it as a compliment, if that's what you want it to mean." he shrugged while tracks of amusement could be seen on his face.

"And I pointed out the fact that Penguin is good at taking care of the ship, what's your fucking problem here?" she grunted. Penguin's face turned pale

"Guys I totally like taking care of the ship! Seriously! Don't start fighting over me!" he held up his hands while saying and took a step back towards the door.

"It's not you!" Lilou and Law both growled in unison while glaring at each other. Lilou suddenly laughed out in his face

"You know what, you're right! This is literally what _I_ _do,_ manipulating people. But I also have the dignity to stay true with my friends. So sure, thanks for the compliment!" she said cheerfully, then took off her hat and dramatically bowed. Law clenched his jaw with just a little less pressure needed to crack his teeth. She looked away after a few seconds of amusing herself with the amount of fury dancing on his face.

"Bepo, is there anything else you wanna share?" she asked the polar bear. He shook his head in negative response

"That was all. You bring the kairoseki, and I'll be asking around about the Reverse Mountain just in case."

"Great!" she turned on her heels "I'll be leaving in a little while then. Anyone wants coffee?"

"Ooooh! Sure, if it's _your_ coffee!" Shachi cheered and followed her out.

"Is it that good? Cause I'm sure you have enough caffeine in your system already!" Uni asked as he was heading out too. Penguin punched him while running to the corridor and shouted "Lilou-chan's coffee is HEAVEN!"

"Woohoo! COFFEE!" the echo of Ikkaku's cheering voice was the last one to disappear outside the navigating room. Bepo hesitated in the doorframe and looked back at Law

"You're coming?"

"In a minute." he mumbled with a dark tone in his voice, while looking outside the wide window without actually seeing anything.

"To be fair, you're not always right, Law. You can do awful things without even noticing how wrong they are." he said as casual as ever before walking out. Law huffed with annoyance and closed his angered eyes. _Maybe_. The fact that Bepo always used to avoid giving any comments about their fights, made him think about what he said. Maybe, he could at least give her the benefit of doubt. Maybe, just maybe he was wrong about the whole thing, maybe it was just his misjudgment and nothing more. But even if that was the case, the damage was already done. Even _he_ would've hated himself for saying the things he said to Lilou in the infirmary. Not that it was his first time saying such things to a woman, and not that he ever even cared, but this time it was _her._ While sitting there all numb and miserable listening to the buzz in his ears, he felt like he's constantly running on a circle, making the same mistakes over and over again without ever learning his lesson. Just keep ruining everything after each time he managed to make a little progress, and this last one was his biggest fuck up in their whole history together. He sighed and pressed his eyes _'Just go to her and fuckin' talk! How hard can it be?!'_ he snapped at himself as resting the heavy nodachi on his shoulder and slowly walking out.

"I'm making some toast Lilou-chan, you want some?" Ikkaku asked Lilou who was staring at the afternoon paper. The other five had already left for the town and it was just the two of them in the kitchen. Lilou looked up at her a little shocked, the unusual question she asked dragged her completely out of her gloomy thoughts.

"Um…" her heartbeat dropped for a second. It's been years since the last time she was in a situation where she had to explain she can't eat anything but human flesh!

"Thanks, Ikkaku! I… don't really eat… toasts…" she said with a childish shyness coating her words, not sure if she was supposed to be thankful to Law for respecting her privacy and not explaining every weird thing about her to the new guys, or be annoyed at him for not doing the awkward job for her. Ikkaku gave her a cheerful smile

"Oh! You like something else? There's still some sandwiches left since this morning."

"Um… I don't really eat, Ikkaku… generally!" she nearly whispered in response. Ikkaku stared at her, recalling the first time she met Lilou awake. Her jaw slightly dropped

"Crap! I'm sorry!" she said with a sharp voice "I thought you were just-"

"That's the only thing I can digest! My God! You didn't think I was eating a human arm just for fun, did you?!" she laughed out despite the lump forming in her throat, trying not to look as miserable as she was feeling at the moment. Ikkaku shook her head shocked

"Not for fun, I just never thought you wouldn't be able to eat normal food _at all!_ "

"Another perk of being a Ghoul!" she said bitter throwing the newspaper on the table "Eating up murderers and rapers and all types of criminals to survive!" she continued while rubbing her eyes. Ikkaku sat in front of her with her toasts ready and studied her face for a while before talking.

"That's…"

"Gross. I know, trust me…"

Ikkaku shook her head "I was going to say that's brave. Not anyone can live on like that and still be as strong in the heart as you are."

Lilou's eyes widened at her statement "You don't know about my heart." she said coldly staring at her face. Ikkaku sweetly smiled

"I don't. But I have a gift for feeling people's intentions, and there are no ill intentions in this submarine." she cheerfully grinned at Lilou's grumpy face.

"What do you mean?"

Ikkaku shrugged "I just feel it immediately when someone has a bad nature. It's one hundred percent accurate!" she said proudly as waving a toast in the air.

"Like a radar?!"

"Something like that."

"I don't think your radar is working well in here!" she growled. Ikkaku remained quiet for moments. She knew what was her point, but wasn't sure if Lilou wanted to hear an answer or not.

"He's not a bad person…" she finally talked with a calm voice. Lilou moved her stormy grey eyes to her brown ones without saying a word as she continued "…just paranoid maybe!"

Lilou kept looking at her for few seconds. "I know he's not a bad _person._ I grew up with him…" she mumbled before standing up "He's tricky to deal with, even for someone like me." she stretched her arms and walked towards the door "I gotta go now, Sakura is back. Are you sure you're okay staying behind? I don't have much to do until Sakura gives me locations, I can stay on board till the guys are back."

"It's fine." Ikkaku smiled at her "I'll read a book or something on the deck. Enjoying the weather!"

"Ok, thanks for offering me toasts!" Lilou softly giggled as she left for the deck.

After sending Sakura off to the town, she jumped down on the port and after a five minute walk into the town she started to feel extremely overwhelmed by sensing a pair of eyes following her around every corner. She was being followed again but this time, the stalker was hiding themselves from her extraordinary sharp eyes like a professional. She took a turn to right into a side street and lowered her speed while whistling a song and tucking her tattooed hands in her pockets, ears fully open and alarmed and her sense of smell was awaken completely. She jumped on a portico's top to her left side, then bending her knees, she pushed down her feet jumping high and smoothly landed on a rooftop. Her heart was pounding but not in fear, in excitement. According to what she heard and saw the previous day, a little voice inside her head was consistently telling her that it could be Dragon following her again. Meeting him wasn't as terrifying in her mind as meeting Luffy or Ace. Dragon sure was her father, but not once she had met him back when she was still a human, and that was bringing the possibility of being judged by him very low. And the fact that he was known as the most wanted and dangerous man in the world, was making it a challenge for her, to find him, confront him or even have fight with him to understand the nature and the extents of his power.

She twinkled her nose surprised, catching a familiar scent for a brief moment. She growled and looked down at the side street, her eyes specifically searching for any movement in the shadows. _'Creep!'_ she thought annoyed before letting her body fly down and lightly land in front of his tall figure. Not even a bit surprised, he halted before her

"So your senses are weakened too."

"What do you think you're doing?" she grunted.

"I'm following you." Law answered honestly.

"Why?!"

"To make sure you're in safety." he smirked "Considering how long it took you to finally realize me, I believe that was a good decision."

"Don't you have anything better to do?!" she clenched her jaw and turned away start walking again.

"Did you know your brother has a fanclub?" he ignored her question as he followed her.

"A what?!"

"Some weird looking guy is gathering people to set sail after Mugiwara-ya. Seems pretty obsessed with him." he chuckled. Lilou frowned

"The number of people setting sail after him is starting to get me worried!"

"Who else is going?"

"Smokey. He's leaving in a day or two, and I don't think he's going on a vacation or something." her frown deepened "He'll be a trouble if not stopped. He's just a captain, but considering how strong he actually is, it almost feels like he's being underestimated by the higher ups."

Law hummed and before saying anything, got distracted by the pink silhouette approaching them from the clear sky.

"Sakura!" Lilou cheered and ran over her as she landed.

" _Rouuu!"_ she blinked softly and images of a mansion in the royal part of the city got transmitted into Lilou's mind. She smiled and patted the soft feathers on her head

"Nice job, Sakura! Let's go!" she said excited with a wide grin on her face. Law narrowed his steel grey eyes at them

"What exactly are you plotting?"

She sent a freezing gaze his way over her shoulder

"I told Bepo I'll bring the kairoseki. You would hear it if you weren't so busy throwing shade!"

He struggled to stop himself from loosing his temper again, and walked towards them calmly instead.

"Let's go then." he said nonchalantly stroking Sakura's wing.

"Excuse me?!"

"What you thought I'd keep my eyes off you with this vulnerable and dysfunctional state you're in?!"

"Do your own damn business, you're not my babysitter!" she grunted at him furiously.

"Argue all day, you'll just waste your time and mine!"

After a good twenty minutes of objecting, rationalizing, threatening and trying to reason with him, she finally gave up and let him tag along. Sakura dropped them off in the garden of that mansion in less than five minutes, then sat next to them under the shadow while Lilou was carefully observing the break-in ways of the building and Law was observing her.

"Lil?"

"Shshsh!"

"Lil... I think you wanna hear this!" he whispered.

"What?!" she hissed at him as quiet as possible, extremely annoyed. His mind gone blank for a second looking into her magical eyes inches away from his, and the words dried out in his mouth. He wanted to kiss her delicate fingers and just apologize for being such a dick, promise her that he would never do such a stupid thing again, that he will try as hard as she wants him to and change into a better person just for her sake, and that how much he was ashamed of himself for getting carried away before even waiting for her to come back and hearing her side of the story. But none of those things came out of his mouth instead

"Why did you left?!"

"What?!"

He frowned at her stubbornly "Why did you left me while I was sleeping?!"

Her eyes locked on his face, and if they were not wide open, he would consider the possibility of a narcolepsy attack, as her face wasn't showing any sign or expression an awake person would show. After few seconds of absolute surprise, she finally asked

"Is that what it's all about?!"

"Well, imagine trusting someone and sharing your deepest feelings with them, then after making love with them with all the love you got, you go to sleep thinking you're gonna wake up to see their face next to you, and then you open your eyes and find yourself being left alone while yo-"

"Shshshsh!"

"While you were asleep!" he lowered his voice and whispered "So, yeah! That's what it's all about!"

"Oh my good God!" she whispered shocked with her eyes widened "Law..."

"You could at least leave a note! If whatever you needed to do was that necessary!" he then kept staring into her big eyes seriously. She blinked a few times and shook her head

"Law, I just... I woke up so early and I was feeling too energetic to stay in bed, and you were sleeping for God's sake! I just didn't want to wake you that early!"

She studied his profile as he was looking away all grumpy and offended, and tried really hard to hold her laughter back. He was suddenly reminding Lilou of the eleven year old Law when she thought amused, that he was still just an angry boy inside. She reached out her hand wrapping her little fingers around his index like a baby

"Law?" she sighed "You should seriously stop doing that."

He looked at her irritated from the corner of his eyes "Doing what?"

"Judging by the appearances. Look, I feel you, really! But that doesn't make the things you told me this morning ok. I was the happiest girl on earth last night, and then you just... crushed me with those words! Imagine how _I_ felt after you just treated me like a random girl you hooked up with in some bar! If anything you told me last night was real, then you need to stop acting like a baby, and start resp-"

"Room!" he drew his sword without warning and swung it just a few inches away from the spot she was sitting. Lilou swiftly turned and dodged a dropping headless body just in time.

"Aaaarghhh-"

Law pushed the severed head on the ground trying to keep it quiet

"Make another noise and I'll replace your mouth with your own balls!" he grunted while pressing his hand on the man's mouth.

"He's a servant!" Lilou whispered looking at his uniform as she dragged his body around the bush Law was crouching behind. She slammed his headless body to the ground "That was an important conversation you messed with!" she growled gazing into his terrified widened eyes. They tied him to the tree Sakura was resting next to, and before Law knew it, Lilou started running towards the mansion's backdoor. He caught up to her a moment before she was about to rush in

"What's your plan?! "

"What plan?" she chuckled and chose the stairway to her right. His eyes widened "Please tell me at least you know where we going!" They were running down the stairs at full speed.

"Sakura said this building has cells in the basement. We're going down! The basement is down! Yehihihihi!"

His next words never made it out as she suddenly stopped and he crashed into her back, causing the both of them to fall and roll down the following stairs. He rubbed his head while trying to get back on his feet

" _Think_ things through, you baka!"

"Woohoo! Check this out!" she laughed out jumping on her feet. They were standing in the middle of a dark corridor, surrounded by many cells on both sides, with at least twenty pairs of eyes staring at them shocked from behind the bars.

"Man! There's a lot of people down here!" she loudly announced "Sorry to disturb your peaceful evening but would you mind lending us some of those nice handcuffs you're wearing?" she shouted cheerfully to the prisoners.

"Keep it down, would you?!" Law snapped at her and checked the stairway worriedly.

"Who _are_ you?" asked an old man, still in the shock of their unexpected entrance. Lilou turned to him

"Hi! My name is Monkey D. Lilou, nice to meet ya!" she grinned at him. He narrowed his eyes

"None of us would be here in the first place if we could _lend_ you these handcuffs, you know!"

"Oh!" she raised her eyebrows "He's got a point!"

"Lil..." Law turned to her extremely annoyed "How exactly did you want to get the kairoseki cuffs?!"

"Well, asking nicely at first and if-"

"You do remember eating a devil fruit at some point in your life, right?!"

"Right! Hahahaha! Good thing I brought you too then!" she laughed out and immediately kneeled on the ground, picking up small pieces of rock and filling her little backpack with them.

"Here!" she handed the backpack to Law with a wide grin and snapped her fingers "Do that _shambles_ thing." He kept looking at her with annoyance for a second before mumbling a quick Room and Shambles. Ignoring the confused and cheerful sounds of the prisoners, he gave back her bag, now full of kairoseki handcuffs. She looked inside and hummed

"Mhmm... I guess we need some more..." walking towards that old man's cell, she grabbed the bar in front of her "Oy ossan! Isn't there any- mor... _meeehh~~~_ " her face melted and she slowly fell down. Law rolled his eyes before dragging her away from the kairoseki bars

"Just _why_ are you like this!" he lifted her weakened body and threw her on his shoulder "That's probably enough, let's get outta here."

"No we... ugh... I feel... so weak!" she said with a lot of effort "Upstairs... go to the master room upstairs..."

"Why?!" he growled while running up.

"It's the bank owner's house. I need to disguise myself as her wife for the ceremony."

"Disguise me as the husband then! You're not going there alone either."

"Aww!" she giggled while hanging on his muscular shoulder "You wanna take me to the party? Cute!" she giggled again as he made an annoyed noise and ignored her. Law stopped and hesitated as he reached the end of the stairs.

"Go on." she said confident "You're in disguise."

Law sighed and replaced her on his shoulder as he advanced in the luxurious mansion. A servant girl walked past him

"Jason! What's this?!" she asked Law with a frown "You're not gonna feed the street dogs again, do you?!" she was staring angrily at him while continuously tapping her left foot on the wooden floor.

"No Jason, you're not." Lilou whispered as low as possible "I'm a huge box of jewelry Madam Chiyoko asked for to try on, for... the ceremony!"

"Madam Chiyoko asked for this box of jewels." he repeated like a robot and made Lilou sigh, disappointed in his acting skills. The servant girl immediately pulled herself out of his way

"Oh God, hurry up then! I don't need anymore of her screaming for today!" she mumbled the last part and ran off to the next room. Law continued walking towards the grand staircase in front of them.

"Who's Jason?" he whispered.

"The guy you wanted to put his balls on his face."

"Fabulous!" he groaned and stopped upstairs looking around.

"Go left... Law! _Left!"_

"I _am going left!"_

"Then right! Go right!"

"Are you fucking with me?!"

"I'm upside down, doctor! I'm feeling dizzy..."

"Walk on your own then!"

"Yosh! That's it, stop. Stop!"

He stopped in front of a huge mahogany door and knocked. Lilou lifted her head up raising an eyebrow

"Seriously?!" she said with boredom. Law shrugged and opened the door.

"It's empty, genius!" he said while closing the door and put Lilou down. She listened carefully for few seconds, then she grinned and readjusted the fluffy hat on her raven hair. Walking forward, she turned to face Law before opening the wardrobe

"She's in the shower." she picked a silk blue dress and held it in front of her body while checking herself in the mirror " _Ito Mamoru_ is the man who runs Loguetown's only bank, madam _Chiyoko_ is his wife, two kids, an eight year old son and a fourteen year old daughter. Not quite a happy marriage, he spends all day working in his office and most of the nights drinking and gambling. Kids aren't good at school but daddy's money keeps them in there. Chiyoko cheated on Mamoru once with one of his colleagues, and her guilty conscience is keeping her awake at nights. That's why she always seems restless and nervous and walking around the house screaming at the staff." she picked another dress and threw the silky one on bed "Their son is a werewolf but no one knows his secret, they lock him up in a dungeon every full moon and people think he's out of town visiting his grandma, while he's clawing the walls and howling at the ceiling. The girl ho-"

"Um, Lil?" Law cleared his throat "Did you get all this information by touching that Jason guy?!"

"Oh, no just the names and the kids. I'm taking guesses bout their life." she shrugged and threw the second dress on the silky one. Law rolled his eyes

"Werewolf? Really?!"

She looked at him with disbelief "You can never know, Law! Don't be so closeminded!" she picked a long black dress and gasped "I am so wearing this tonight!"

Law looked at the bathroom's door soon as he heard the water stopped running.

"Here comes the mother of werewolf!" he chuckled. Lilou pulled a white pistol out of her long boots. Pointing it at the bathroom's direction, she waited for madam Chiyoko to come out. She looked at Law's questioning eyes and whispered

"She might wanna scream!"

The door opened and before taking more than two steps inside the room, Chiyoko's eyes widened at the sight of two complete strangers waiting for her outside her shower. She froze there in her bright red robe towel and covered her mouth staring at Lilou's pistol pointing at her head. Lilou carefully took a step forward

"Hi! I know it's not the best time and I'm very sorry, but would you please calmly go over there and sit on your bed while you're not screaming?"

Chiyoko uncovered her mouth and hesitated before doing what she was told. She sat down on the bed and looked at their faces with her honey-colored eyes

"I know who you people are! My husband is going to come home any minute, if you think you're getting away with this-"

"Oh, great! We have a little business with him too." Lilou gave her a wide smile and leaned forward. She placed her palm on Chiyoko's shaking hand and looked directly into her eyes

"In two minutes, we will leave this room, and you will lock the door behind us and go to bed. You won't be waking up until tomorrow morning and you will not remember anything that happened after you stepped out of the bathroom. Tomorrow you will only remember that you went to the party with your husband, and that you had a lovely time. Understood?"

"Yes." Chiyoko answered calmly with her eyes paralyzed. Lilou gave her a sweet smile

"And thank you for the outfit."

Grabbing the black dress, a pair of heels and a set of jewelry, she walked out of the room after Law. Taking care of Mamoru went as smoothly as his wife and by the time they came back to Sakura, it was almost time to head for the city hall.

Law pulled the tie he was wearing and loosened its tightness with an annoyed look on his face

"I don't get you! We're in disguise anyway, why do I have to wear a suit? I feel violated!" he rumbled.

"Because it's more fun! Yehihihi!" she giggled and waved her long hair over her shoulders "But to be honest, I wish we were disguising ourselves as less corrupted people..."

"What do you mean?"

"Those prisoners we saw earlier, they weren't all criminals or something. They were being kept there just to be transferred to the next human auction. It's definitely illegal in Loguetown, and it's definitely Mamoru's favorite hobby!"

Law shrugged "It's not new, you know that. Human auctions are a huge part of every big city's underground businesses."

"I know..." she mumbled "But it's making me sick. I bet some of them were just normal citizens only with special talents, interesting enough to be sold as a slave... maybe we should've freed them..."

"They didn't ask for help, Saru. Don't blame yourself for weak people whose not even trying to be freed."

A bunch of noisy kids ran past them in the opposite direction, shouting their words to each other loudly. Law frowned at them and continued walking, only to stop suddenly and turn to see Lilou's shocked face staring at that kids running further.

"HEY!"

Law jumped at her unexpected yell. She pointed at a little boy in the group

"You! Come here!"

"Lil, wha-"

"The rest of you can go, he'll catch up!" she said glaring at the scared kids and kept watching them until they were nowhere to be seen anymore. She smiled at the green-haired little boy's worried face

"What's your name?"

"Ryuu…" he murmured, somehow afraid of her. Lilou kneeled in front of his little figure still smiling

"Ryuu, what a nice name…" she leaned her face closer to his "Ryuu? Will you tell me exactly what you just said to your friend?"

"Um, ye-s… I said… run to the harbor, Miss." Lilou shook her head

"No, no. Before that, sweetie. I heard something else too, and I want you to say it again, and be more specific." her tone was kind and very serious at the same time, making the little boy more uncomfortable.

"I said that… um, Smoker-san in setting sail, let's run to the harbor… and wave at him…"

Lilou hummed and and took his little hand

"I see. Now, Ryuu, I want you to do something for me, ok?" he shook his head up and down and kept staring at her

"Good boy. You will run to the harbor, faster than the wind itself, and tell him that you saw a bunch of pirates plotting an attack on the ceremony in the great hall tonight. Very, very big and dangerous pirates. You will make Smoker-san stay in town, Ryuu. Ok?"

"Ok, Miss." the boy shook his head and smiled before turning and running at the opposite way as fast as his short legs were allowing him to. Law raised an eyebrow

"Where are _you_ going?!"

"To the harbor!" she said like it was the most obvious thing.

"Lil… let it go."

"what?!"

"Let-it-go! Why are you even so obsessed with this guy? His status isn't even that high!"

"Because he's not sitting behind a desk. He moves and acts, he'll see and hear things that probably none of the Marines I've ever touched will. And he _is_ going to be a problem if we don't know what's in his mind." she said calmly as she walked down the street next to Law. Law rolled his eyes

"You just wanna protect Mugiwara-ya! Why can't you just believe in your brother?!"

"I believe in Luffy more than anyone else, Law. And yes I do want to protect him, but this guy has the potential to become _our problem_ too!"

She took the last turn and immediately halted as the harbor appeared in front of her, her eyes locked on the silhouette of a navy ship sailing further in the ocean, carrying Smoker and his sword geek assistant away.

"Guess he didn't run fast enough. In that case..."

Law sighed and took the tie off over his head

"Don't even think about it!"

She remained quiet staring at the ship with her face as solid as the ground she was standing on. Law turned to the direction leading to their own ship and grabbed her waist

"We're setting sail today, let's go."

"We're not."

Law turned his face to her with raised brows. The determination on her face made him wish that for once, her next words won't be as crazy as they always were.

"We'll do the operation tonight, Law." she grinned at his disappointed face and started walking towards the Polar Tang.

Law threw the bag of kairoseki handcuffs on the dining room and sat down. Penguin pulled them out and scratched his nose while counting them.

"You think they'll do?" Law asked him curious. He nodded

"I guess it's enough. I'll change the design and divide them into more organized pieces." he grinned at Law "And hope they will save us from getting digested inside of a Seaking's stomach!"

"So we're really leaving tonight?" Ikkaku asked excited.

"I don't think so. Probably tomorrow morning." he straightened his figure on the chair "Guys, listen… we're going to perform an operation on Lilou tonight. Since Penguin has his hands full with preparing the sub, I need Shachi and Ikkaku to help me out, Bepo and Uni to be ready to keep her put in case she goes on a rampage while unconscious, and Clione, I need you to stay on watch tonight, more cautious than any other time!"

After a few seconds of complete silence, Shachi shook his head

"Ok… _too-many-questions!_ "

Lilou walked to the table with her cup of hot coffee and chuckled at him "We're going to rebuild me!" she laughed out as lounging on a chair.

"Excuse me?!" Uni said with widened eyes.

"Wait! _WHY?!"_ Ikkaku leaned down on her head and asked anxiously.

"So I would be able to accompany you guys into the Grand Line alive." she said casually and took a sip from her coffee.

"Is it _that_ necessary?!" Clione asked from the other side of the room while his hands were frozen in the middle of sharpening his knives.

"Isn't there any other way?" Bepo's eyes moved from Lilou to Law's face as he was laying on the cold ground chewing a fishbone. Law sighed and laid his upper body flat on the table

"Ughh… it pains my ass to say it, but no!"

Shachi nodded once and stood up, walking next to Law he patted the top of his fluffy hat

"I feel you brother, let's go get this pain out of your ass!"

Law growled and slapped his hand "Oh, fuck off!" he then chuckled. Shachi laughed and headed out

"I'll get the operating room ready." he shouted from the corridor.

"THANKS!" Lilou yelled after him and giggled "MAN! I'M EXCITED!"

Clione exhaled loudly and went back to his work

"I don't get you, Lilou-chan. Seriously!"

"Welcome to the club!" Law said with his head still resting on the table. Ikkaku looked at Penguin's gloomy face noticing he was quiet the whole time

"What's wrong with _you?_ "

He shook his head and stood up with the bag of kairoseki handcuffs in his hand

"I have to dive at least 20 times to attach all this kairoseki to the bottom."

" _That_ is what you're worried about right now?!" she almost screamed at his face. Penguin shrugged while walking towards the door

"I've seen her survive more dangerous things than a surgery. If it's decided, then I trust Lilou!" he said seriously. Lilou threw her head backwards looking at him

"Aw! Aren't you the sweetest?"

Penguin blushed and waved his hand for them before leaving the kitchen. Law stretched his back and grabbed his nodachi from the table

"Let's go."

As Lilou was laying on the uncomfortable operating bed and watching the sedatives slowly transferring into her body, her fading mind was only telling her one thing _'This is going to be a survival game.'_

* * *

 **I know this one was kind of a calm before the storm chapter but it was needed as preparation for the next chapters.**

 **Thank you so much for your cute reviews, favs, follows or simply reading my story.**

 **Pleaseee write your opinions in reviews, author needs them to get motivated and upload faster and better xoxo loveyalll**


	10. To the Grand Line

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Tokyo Ghoul. I do own my Ocs.**

* * *

Chapter 10 - To the Grand Line

 _Tinkling sounds are echoing in my head, I'm slowly starting to become aware of my body. My heart's beating steadily in my chest, and I'm laying down on an uncomfortable surface. It's sharp, everywhere. The ground, the air, the light behind my eyelids, too much sharpness. I try to gather all my energy and painfully open my eyes, just to gasp at the view of the sky above my head, is it even sky?_

 _Pushing my palms on the ground I barely manage to lift my upper body, it stings immediately. I lift one hand and feel the drops of blood falling on my knees before seeing my scratched palm. I keep staring at it, something isn't right. It looks like my hand, even my tattoos are on it, yet it feels weird. The scratches on my palm are still stinging, and still slightly bleeding 'It's not healing like it's supposed to!'_

 _Narrowing my eyes in the blinding light I start looking around curiously. Everywhere's shining, the ground, the air, the sky. I wait for my watery eyes to adapt with the light, then carefully stroke the ground I'm sitting on, picking up a piece of glass and staring at it for a second, only to gasp sharply upon noticing my environment. There are shattered pieces of glass everywhere, I look up again, even the sky above my head is made out of tiny pieces of broken glass. It looks like an endless field, with nothing but glass covering it, the source of that blinding light, I note. They're shining like millions of tiny rainbows as the light is breaking through the pieces like it would in a prism._

 _I frown in pain as I try to get back on my feet. The sharp edges are leaving cuts on my bare soles with every step I'm taking trying to advance in the glassy field. There's nothing around, except for this subtle tinkling sound which is starting to get on my nerves!_

 _"What is this?!" I grunt to myself trying to ignore the pain in my feet. I'm getting nervous now_

 _"Great! I have no idea where the fuck I am, how did I ended up here and how to get out!" I announce loudly to my empty surroundings and look up again desperately with my arms hanging by my sides._

 _"It's pretty in here, why're you mad?"_

 _"Yeah that would be nicer if I wasn't bleeding like ins-" my eyes widen in shock and I turn around so fast that I struggle to keep my balance for a second. I stare at the person before me with my eyes still widened in the shock of not being completely alone like I thought I was. It's a girl, a child, sitting on her knees and playing with the pieces of glass before her, making that annoying tinkling noise that waked me in the first place, and she's completely naked. Long raven hair, pale skin and a pink burn mark on her left shoulder._

 _I hesitantly take a step forward, my mouth's half open at the sight before my eyes. The girl stops playing with glasses for a moment and looks at my face. She narrows her light grey eyes_

 _"Stop walking! You're hurting your feet." she says casually and continues playing, she seems to be trying to make something like a tiny castle with those pieces of glass._

 _"Who are you?!" I nearly whisper, though I think I already know the answer! The little girl looks at me again and raises her eyebrows_

 _"You're such a dumbass for a grownup!" she says disappointed and sighs. I frown offended_

 _"What do you mean dumbass?!"_

 _"You're asking dumb questions and you're walking on sharp edged pieces of glass and you can't even recognize yourself! You're a dumbass." she shrugs her bare shoulders. I say nothing. 'Ok, chill! This is a dream. So my little version is talking to me, no big deal! It's just a weird dre-'_

 _"I don't think it's a dream." little Lilou brushes her hair behind her ears and looks up at the glassy sky. I frown and look at her tiny self with my eyes narrowed_

 _"What then?!" I growl at her._

 _"How should I know! Maybe you went crazy and you're imagining stuff." she shrugs again._

 _"I haven't gone crazy! I was… he was… going to perform an operation on me, then I woke up here…" I gasp in disbelief "AM I DEAD?!" I shout at my little version._

 _"How should I know?! Find things out for yourself!" she pouts annoyed and crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at me pissed. I count to ten in my head and take three deep breaths before saying anything, trying to absorb the situation and calm my storming mind._

 _"Ok… alright, tell me everything you know about all this right now, anything!" I point my finger at her sitting figure and order. She sighs again_

 _"I-don't-know! I woke up here and saw you sleeping over there!" she points her thumb at her left side "Then I got bored and started to play with this stuff and then you got up and started talking to me."_

 _"I wasn't talking to you! I didn't even see you!" I growl at her. She rolls her eyes_

 _"Dumbass."_

 _"Stop with the dumbass crap already you little mean beast!" I shout annoyed._

 _"Why are you yelling? It's just the two of us in here and I'm not deaf!" she nags without looking at me. I stand silent and look up again, I'm not even sure how to talk with this kid, with myself! This tiny version of me is unbelievably annoying!_

 _"How was it going?"_

 _I look away from the semi-sky and raise an eyebrow at her still trying to balance the new pieces on her little artwork "What?!"_

 _"I'm bored!" she whines "I'm trying to have a conversation!" she looks up at me with annoyance in her big eyes. I stare at her for a second, not really sure what kind of a conversation someone is supposed to have with their past self._

 _"You know how it was going!" I grumble. The younger Lilou shrugs_

 _"Mhmm… pretty much. You were being boring ever since Cora-san died, so I really didn't bother watching you that much." she looks up again, this time with twisted brows and an angry expression on her childish face "The only cool thing you did lately, was deciding to meet up with Luffy…" she fists her tiny hands "Which you screwed it over with that boring self-pity you very much like to do!"_

 _"I didn't screw it over!" I bark at her "He was happy! And already made his peace with losing two siblings long ago! Showing myself as I am now was only going to disappoint him!" I nearly shouted._

 _"One."_

 _"What?!"_

 _"One sibling…" she mumbles "he always wished you would return to him someday."_

 _"THEY ALL ASSUMED I WAS DEAD!" I yell at her as my body is shaking in rage._

 _"Not Luffy…" she whispers so low that it's barely audible. I release my tense body and stare at her in disbelief_

 _"What do you mean?" I murmur._

 _"We're twins, baka! He never entertains the thought, but he can feel you!" the kid shouts at me, her angry voice is holding traces of disappointment and sadness. Tears start to shape in the corner of her eyes as she continues shouting "Why did you run?! Why didn't you let us see him? Do you know how much I cried when you left him behind and ran away like a coward?! I WANTED TO MEET LUFFY AND YOU FUCKED IT UP WITH YOUR STUPID SELFISHNESS!"_

 _"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SCREAM AT ME FOR NOT WANTING TO RUIN MY BROTHER'S LIFE!" I scream back at her "YOU'RE NOT EVEN THE SAME PERSON AS ME! STOP REFERRING TO OURSELVES AS US!"_

 _"I AM THE SAME PERSON AS YOU! I ALWAYS WAS AND I'LL ALWAYS BE! YOU THINK HE CARES IF YOU'RE A GHOUL OR A HUMAN?! DON'T YOU KNOW HIM AT ALL?!" she stands up and kicks the tiny castle she was so obsessively trying to make, scattering the glasses to smaller pieces "I hate you for what you made of me! I never wanted myself to be this stupid and coward! You're pathetic!" she walks in front of me and grabs my shirt "All you do is pity yourself and lining stupid reasons to justify your cowardice! You became the exact kind of a person that once you couldn't even stand!"_

 _I push her back harshly, and I get shocked by how real her person felt like. It definitely isn't a dream! The little Lilou falls on her back and yelps at the sharpness of the objects she landed on. She glares at me with disgust while trying to pull her fragile body up and sit. She hugs her knees and turns her face away from me._

 _I keep staring, waiting for my child self to jump at me and start screaming again, yet all she's doing is hiding her face under the mass of her raven hair in complete silence. I sigh and sit cross-legged on the ground_

 _"Hey…" I call trying to sound more friendly. She doesn't answer. I exhale desperately "I'm sorry, ok?!" again, no answer._

 _"Look…" I lean closer to her "You have to let go…" I nearly whisper at her and put a hand on her bare shoulder "It's over. The life you used to have, it's all gone… along with yourself! You have to let go of it! Of me!"_

 _She doesn't say anything for a minute, still stubbornly facing the opposite way. I stroke the pink burn mark on my tiny self's shoulder, her body feels so real, like an actual real human being sitting next to me, not at all like something you would see or touch in a dream or a vision._

 _"You never pulled our broken pieces back together after your body changed." her cracked voice draws me out of my thoughts, she's crying._

 _"Let go of you?! There's no difference between me and you, we're the same person! So we turned into a Ghoul, big deal! You're so weak that you couldn't even keep your mind unharmed when your body changed. You abandoned who you were along with all your dreams and desires, and now you're telling me to let go?! It's not even possible! You're such a dumbass coward!"_

 _I frown at the back of her small head "I'm not a coward!" I grunt._

 _"Oh but you are!" she says while turning to face me._

 _"I'm a monster! How can I be a monster and a coward at the same time?!"_

 _"So you're comfortably accepting yourself as a monster?" she asks raising an eyebrow._

 _"There's nothing comfortable about it! I'm just stating a fact!"_

 _"Then you're just a coward." she states nonchalantly and shrugs._

 _"I'm no- what is your point?!" I ask, furious at this annoyingly surreal conversation._

 _"I'm just saying, you keep telling yourself you're a monster, yet you act like a scared little kid and you get offended when someone else calls you a monster, or a coward! Becoming this "monster" you're calling yourself was something you had no say in, but don't you think you would've lived a happier life if you just accepted the truth and embraced what you've turned into, instead of hiding yourself behind a happy mask and ignoring your pain? Wouldn't it be easier to take that pain in and let it make you stronger? Of course you can't be a monster and a coward at the same time! You have to choose!"_

 _I stare at my tiny self coldly for few moments, then get up and take a deep breath looking up_

 _"I don't have to prove anything to you, you're not even real! I'm getting outta here."_

 _I say and choose a random direction to pointlessly walk away in. This is just hilarious! It's not just that my past self is fucking up my mind, it's this whole place that's disturbing me. There's nothing in here, nothing. Just glass, glass, and more fucking glass. There's not even a hill on the ground, everywhere's just flat and look exactly the same, there's even no wind in the air. I pick up a shard of glass and throw it high above my head, I keep staring at it and watch it going higher, it stops mid air for a second, and just when I'm expecting it to come back down, it shivers and gets pulled into that freaky sky, and then just disappears, sucked into the other million pieces of glass floating up there. 'Bullshit!' I take few steps back with m_ _y head still thrown back and my eyes suddenly widen feeling it's getting empty under my feet. Jumping away before completely lose my footing, I fall harshly on the ground with my heart racing insanely in my chest. The ground I was standing on a second ago, is now just… isn't there! There's no hole or something, it's just not there! It's just a vacuity, a pitch dark space from the bottom to the sky, with random little sparks of red in it. And I don't even wanna know what's inside of it!_

 _After struggling to find my way back to that annoying tiny Lilou and jumping away from another three dark vacuities showing up outta nowhere, I finally see her again. Grumbling under my breath, I carefully tiptoe to where she's sitting. An uncomfortable feeling is creeping up my spine, can't stop thinking that maybe this place, whatever it is, has already begun to vanish, ready to swallow me, and the other me(!) and everything else that is left from us into that dark nothingness. If that's what my afterlife is going to look like, like hell I'd let myself die today! I stand in front of Lilou and cross my arms staring at her big eyes. She smirks at me_

 _"Still alive?!"_

 _"You're still here, so yeah!"_

 _"Just get it over with." she says with boredom. I raise my eyebrows at her_

 _"Excuse me?!"_

 _"Die already! I'm sick of that lousy life you're living!"_

 _"I'M NOT HERE TO DIE!"_

 _"What then?"_

 _"Stop asking questions you already know the answers to!"_

 _"You're not choosing, so why not just end it in here if it's that difficult of a choice?!"_

 _"I don't give a single fuck about your stupid choosing game! I just wanna get out of this place!"_

 _"YOU CAN'T! You haven't chosen yet." she nags "You wanna let them die too?! Like Sabo? or Cora-san, just because you're too scared to decide-"_

 _"Don't you fucking dare say their names again!" I shout at her without realizing the tears shaping in my eyes. Little Lilou walks in front of me with a frown_

 _"You wanted to get stronger! That's why you're here! Or do you rather keep ignoring what you really are?! What do you think will happen to them if you can't protect them? Your nakama, Law… Luffy… Ace-_

 _"STOP!"_

 _Looking up at my terrified face, she reaches her little hand and grabs my cheek, making me look down at her with my wet eyes_

 _"Which one do you want to be?"_

 _I blink and a teardrop falls on my little self's face, I open my mouth to answer but a loud blast of explosion from somewhere far away shakes the whole place and makes me jump._

 _"Choose!"_

 _"What's happening?!"_

 _"You're time's almost up." little Lilou smirks "Tell me… which one do you want to be?"_

 _Another blast rumbles the ground and opens a wide crack in the sky above us. Little shards of glass start to fall on our figures. This place is defiantly falling apart, I can tell just by looking at that weird sky changing colors. It's shining red now._

 _"I don't want to be a monster!" I sob and fall on all fours, feeling my strength draining. My little version frowns annoyed as she looks down at me._

 _"I'm sick of being a coward. I'm sick of this whole thing." I'm crying out. My child self frowns deeper and leans down to my eye level_

 _"Then die!" she growls pissed._

 _"I CAN'T DIE YET!" I shout at her with widened eyes. It's the hardest unrealistic situation I could ever imagine being in and I'm literally pushing myself to choose between death and being a monster._

 _"THEN CHOOSE! DO YOU WANT TO DIE A COWARD OR LIVE PROUD AS A MONSTER?"_

 _I freeze, open my eyes and stare at the glowing, broken pieces of glass shaking under my fingers. Live proud as a monster? Sounds much better than my recently miserable life. The sound of explosions feels closer any second 'Sabo… Cora-san… they might still be alive if I was strong enough to save them.' the glasses start to shatter into smaller pieces around me 'Luffy… Ace… Law… they might die too if I won't be able to protect them.' sound of the breaking glasses mixed with the cannons filling my head 'I've been given this power to protect the people I love, not to kill and destroy like a monster! Such an ignorant idiot I was all my life!' the whole place is shaking and falling apart around us with a dreadful grumbling sound. I look up into my other pair of grey eyes_

 _"I'm leaving you now, Lilou." I whisper to the kid "I'm sorry, I don't know how to turn back time and erase all the times I made you cry… I can't change the past for you, and I can't let you hold on to it while I'm trying to live in the present…" I wipe the tears on my cheek and grab her little hand, my own little hand "But the future is all mine. And I promise, Lil, I'll do everything in my power to make you… smile…" I press my eyes and try to get over my trembling voice "I will do everything in my power, to be the adult you look up to… I'm getting out of here… you just… let me live for the sake of your dreams…"_

 _She smiles at me_

 _"Who are you leaving as?" a spark of my red, flaring eyes is reflected on hers. I get back on my feet. Hugging my past self and pressing her against my body, I feel her person slowly vanish in my arms, little by little, she's becoming one with me. I throw my head back with closed eyes_

 _"Monkey D. Lilou." I answer steadily, then open my blood-colored eyes to the red, glassy sky_

 _"A Ghoul."_

The operating bed she was laying on harshly shook with another hit of cannon somewhere outside the sub. She jumped and sat on the bed hastily, the room was empty and her head was filled with the sound of heavy explosions, shoutings, footsteps, swords clashing onto each other. _'We're under attack!'_ she jumped out of the bed and started to run, faster than any other time in her life without even putting much effort into it. She was hearing too much, seeing too clear, every object she was passing by was in full detail in her eyes and the noises on the deck felt as close as if they were right next to her ears. And she could clearly hear the sound of every single drop of rain falling down on the sea, every whistle of the sharp wind hitting the walls of the sub. The metal door was already wide open when she jumped in the middle of that chaos on the deck. With one quick look, she noticed they were already winning the fight. Five marines were struggling into Ikkaku's heavy chains as she was standing on top of them. Shachi and Penguin were knocking soldiers out throwing them in the ocean one after another. Clione's knives were shining in the air flying around, Uni was constantly firing his giant bazooka, Bepo was shocking the enemies with his electric attacks and Law was reflecting the cannons firing at them without stopping even for a second to look at anything but the Navy battleship in front of them.

Lilou ran to the front with her kagune flaring behind her, brighter and bigger than ever

"LAW! LIFT IT!" she yelled and jumped on the railings. Law's eyes nearly popped out at her unexpected appearance

"WHAT?!"

"Lift their ship up from it's back." she yelled back and caught a cannon with bare hands. Law cut another cannon in half

"That's a fucking battleship! Ho-"

"DAMN JUST DO IT!"

Law stopped struggling with the cannons seeing Lilou easily catching and stashing them under her feet. He never lifted anything that giant and heavy before, but Lilou clearly just ordered him to, like it was something very much casual and easy, and she actually seemed like she had a plan. Breathing hard and heavy, he created one of the biggest Rooms he had ever created and gathered all his energy as he stared at the ship

 _"Takt!"_

The end of the navy battleship started to shake violently and slowly began to part from the sea surface. Barrels, cannons and marines lost their balance as they were rolling and falling on each other and the whole ship suddenly fell into panic. Lilou grinned

"Yosh! Send these to their faces!" she shouted and moved a little aside for Law to have access to the cannons she's been collecting. Law clenched his jaw, pushing his limits by trying to hold the battleship in that semi-vertical position and send all that cannons right at it at the same time. Lilou jumped off the railings and bent her knees behind Law, carefully counting the seconds and calculating the right time to finish their counterattack.

"LIL! HURRY!"

"Just a bit more…" she kept watching, and then pushed her feet before jumping high in the air with her kagune turned into crystalized mode. She held her breath and examined the location of every single floating cannon, before opening her wings wide and shoot hundreds of red crystal shards right at them

" _CRYSTAL STORM!"_

Roaring flames covered the whole area, swallowing the sound and sight of that battleship shattering into pieces and brightening the stormy dark sky, and by the time that Lilou smoothly landed on the deck and Law grabbed the railings leaning on them, there were only broken pieces of wood floating on the sea as they kept moving away from where the enemy ship was, not so long ago. Lilou looked back at her crew, Bepo was already gone, she could clearly hear his footsteps running to the navigating room.

 _"LILOU!"_

A mass of curly brown hair covered her face as Ikkaku jumped at her, hugging her so tight that it would definitely be painful if she was a human. "You woke up!" she cheered and tightened her grip around Lilou, causing the trapped marines shriek in pain as the thorns on the chains pierced their bodies even deeper.

"Of course I did!" Lilou laughed out hugging her back "But what the fuck are we doing in the middle of this bloody storm crushing marines?!"

No one got the chance to answer as Bepo's voice coming from the intercom distracted them

" _Hurry to the navigating room. We're getting close!"_

"Oh crap!" Shachi ran after them with his face turned completely pale. Ikkaku kicked the trapped soldiers into the sea before drawing her chains and running into the sub.

Law rushed into the room before anyone else and ran to the window, soaking wet from head to toe like everybody else. Penguin cleaned the blood on his face as he ran next to Law and stared outside with his eyes popping out

"I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING BUT THIS FUCKING STORM!"

" _WOULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?!"_ Lilou shouted and jumped on the table behind Law and Penguin, trying to find out what were they looking for. Bepo took his eyes from the monitor

"Hey Lil, how you feeling?"

"I'm fine, thanks! Where are we?!"

"Somewhere awfully close to the reverse mountain." Uni growled before grabbing the collar of Bepo's orange jumpsuit to keep his balance as a huge wave hit the sub and shook the whole place.

"HEY!" Bepo shouted and shook him off. Lilou's big eyes landed on the clock showing eight

" _Is it eight in the_ _morning?! Why aren't we in the calm belt?!"_

"We were, just before that damned navy ship showed up!" Ikkaku sighed "And then the storm started so we couldn't submerge."

"Lilou." Bepo said without looking up "Law."

They both turned to him with questioning eyes.

"We have to go through the mountain. What are your orders?"

Law grinned at his face "Navigate this crazy ass mountain and get us to the Grand Line in one piece!"

"YOSH! TO THE GRAND LINE!" Lilou shouted cheerfully and jumped on Bepo "GO CLIMB THAT MOUNTAIN!"

"Ok. The signals I'm sending out are coming back, meaning the reverse mountain is right ahead of us. And there's a lot of strong currents here I'm having trouble keeping the course steady. I need you to go out and watch until you find the entrance and tell me which current is the one flowing up, Lilou."

"Huh?!" Lilou tilted her head confused.

"It's geography and meteorology, do you really wanna hear the details?" Bepo chuckled.

"No! Hahaha!"

"Take this and just tell me everything you see out there."

Lilou grabbed the mini Den Den Mushi and ran to the door "GOTCHA!"

"I'm going too!" Law said excited and ran after her. Ikkaku swung her chains and grinned

"Shame on me if I stay in here!"

"Fuck it I'm going too!"

Penguin moaned desperately "All of you?!"

"Stay here, I might need a hand." Bepo said to him, making him sigh relieved watching the other six running out.

"LILOU DON'T YOU DARE CLIMBI-"

 _"SHUT UP! HAHAHAHA!"_

"YOU _JUST_ WOKE UP! I HAVEN'T EXAMINED YOU YET!"

"Why you even trying?!" Shachi asked the furious Law glaring at Lilou as she climbed the front mast in that heavy storm like an excited monkey.

"I don't know why I even bothered bringing a spyglass for her!" Uni scratched his head looking up at Lilou with the spyglass in his hand.

Lilou's eyes widened in excitement looking right ahead of them "I'M SEEING IT! IT'S RED LINE!" she pulled out the Den Den Mushi "Bepo, there's two whirlpool things near the red line!"

"They're supposed to send us up! Look for the entrance, and hurry!"

Bepo's voice coming from the intercom caused everyone on the upper deck to run closer to the railings, narrowing their eyes trying to see the red line past the heavy rain.

"DAMN YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE THE PEAK!" Clione cheered out both thrilled and terrified at the same time. Shachi laughed out

"Of course you can't! It's the _red line!"_

"We're finally about to see the top this time!" Law laughed out. Ikkaku frowned at him

 _"This time?!_ You've been here before?!"

"Not exactly _here_ , the other four blues." Shachi casually said.

 _"WHAT?!"_ Ikkaku, Uni and Clione shouted in unison with surprised faces.

"Come on! You know we started off from north blue! How else could we be here if we never saw the red line?!"

"How did you cross it before?!"

"Law used to teleport our boats from one side to the other." Shachi shrugged. Uni's jaw fell a second before shouting at them confused

"THEN WHY THE FUCK ARE WE DOING _THIS_ NOW?!"

"It's a freakin' heavy metal submarine with eight people on it!" Law growled at them irritated.

"FOUND IT! BEPO, A LITTLE TO THE LEFT!" Lilou yelled into the Den Den Mushi, her heart was ponding hard into her chest and she was feeling like she's about to explode from the amount of joy and excitement building up in her. The submarine dangerously tilted to the left and kept shaking roughly as it was getting closer to the red line at full speed, and it was definitely not riding the right current. The other five lost their standings and screamed out trying not to fall into the roaring sea by hanging on to swords, knives, spikes and anything else that could pierce through the wooden deck. Their voices filled the air again as the prow of the sub fell into the right current with another harsh quake, making the vehicle facing the cliff with its side. Ikkaku clenched her jaw trying to lift her body and looked at the very tiny crack on the cliff with terrified eyes and screamed

"Is _THAT_ the entrance?!"

"The water really _IS_ going up!"

"WHY THE FUCK ARE WE APPROACHING IT HORIZONTALLY?!"

The ending of the sub started to surpass the front as it was still stuck in the other current. Lilou jumped down, quickly calculating their distance from the cliff she started to run to the end of the submarine. Law pulled out his blade from the deck and grinned at Ikkaku, knowing exactly what Lilou was thinking

"How long are those chains?"

Ikkaku looked back at the red cliff "Long enough in few seconds!"

"WHAT? WHAT NOW?!" Shachi cried out running after them following Lilou. Ikkaku swung the two heavy chains in her hands once stopping in front of Lilou who was talking to the navigator

"Bepo, we're already riding the flow right?"

"The front half is!"

"Yosh! Penguin, come up here! Bepo, you know what to do!"

"AYE CAPTAIN!" Bepo's voice coming out of the sweating Den Den Mushi could clearly demonstrate his struggle and how excited and nervous he was at the same time. Lilou viciously grinned at Ikkaku

"Why so terrified?!"

"Your face!" Clione shouted at her standing there with a wide grin and sparkling eyes, not at all looking like someone who was only seconds away from crashing into a giant mountain. Ikkaku took her eyes from the cliff for one second and screamed at Lilou's face

"YOU'RE HAVING FUN, DON'T YOU?!"

Lilou laughed out insanely and grabbed Ikkaku's shoulders from behind "This is the best thing happening to us in a very long while! HAHAHAHAHA!" she then threw her head back glaring at the others with her crimson eyes "THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" she revolved her kagune around Ikkaku and held her as firm as possible, only leaving her arms out to work with her chains. The others immediately joined them and held on to Ikkaku making sure she wouldn't be affected by the violent movements of the sub. Uni looked up at the red line desperately while laying on the floor holding Ikkaku's feet

"This is it! This is how I'm gonna die!"

" _WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU MANIACS RUINING OUR SHIP!?"_ Penguin yelled from the front side staring at the damaged floor of the upper deck with widened eyes. Shachi yelled back at him

"SHUT UP! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE IF YOU WANNA LIVE ANOTHER DAY!"

"What're you doing?! No! NO NO YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" Penguin joined Uni holding Ikkaku's feet with his face turned completely pale. Lilou kept staring at the left side of the entrance for few more short moments.

 _"NOW!"_

Black chains went flying towards the red line before Lilou was finished, and the thorns pierced through the rock, attaching them to the red line. The ending of the sub dangerously rumbled and started to shift to the left. Lilou grabbed the chains inches away from Ikkaku's shaking hands and screamed out _"PULL!"_ while already pulling the chains herself. The cliff was getting closer any moment and the sub wasn't completely on the right current yet. Ikkaku clenched her teeth with a twisted face "We're not gonna make it!"

The end half was catching up with the rest of the sub on the right current, but not fast enough to avoid hitting the rocks on the right side of the entrance. Bepo came out to the deck running towards the rest of them, the ship was already more rotated to leave him anything else to do in the navigating room. Lilou shook her head harshly spreading the raindrops on her wet face around

"PULL HARDER! DIDN'T YOU EAT BREAKFAST?!"

"WE ACTUALLY DIDN'T!" Shachi yelled out while forcing all of his strength on the chain in Ikkaku's right hand.

"THEN PULL HARDER IF YOU WANT BREAKFAST!"

Law growled pulling the left chain "What kind of a motivation is _that?!"_ he looked back "Bepo! Take my place!" he shouted before letting go and move aside for Bepo to grab the chain. Uni jumped up standing and pointed his bazooka at the cliff

"Fuck it!"

"Room!"

Law and Uni's voices faded in the sound of explosion. A huge piece of the cliff shattered into millions of tiny rocks by Uni's bazooka firing at it, right after Law cut it apart from the red line, and just a second later, their wet faces shadowed as the ending of the sub passed from under the freshly made hole in the cliff and fell into the same current as the front side with a huge quake, making them all shout out and fall on their backs at the impact. The current pushed the rotated submarine to slide on the water going up the reverse mountain, to the Grand Line.

"YAHOOOO!"

"WE MADE IT!"

"GO POLAR TANG!"

"TO THE GRAND LINE, _REVERSED!"_ Lilou cheered out loud and joined the others jumping and shouting in happiness while traveling up the reverse mountain.

"YOSH!" Law shouted and held his tattooed arm in front of him with his palm facing down "This is the beginning of the Heart Pirates' biggest adventure!" he grinned at them as seven pairs of hands joined his and looked at the bright smiling faces of his nakama. Lilou grinned widely and chuckled

"Let's do every crazy shit needed and have all the fun and don't stop until we reach all our dreams!"

 _"YAAAYYYYYY!"_ all cheered out loud and threw their fists up in the air as the stormy clouds disappeared from the morning sky and the raindrops spread around them from their wet heads shining like millions of diamonds under the bright sun. And no one realized Sakura was cheering along with them until she called out loud with happiness " _ROUUUU!"_

Law tilted his head "Where were you?!"

"She was sleeping in Lilou's room." Bepo giggled.

"Sakura! You missed the funniest part!" Lilou laughed out and hugged the pink bird. Clione narrowed his eyes

"That is one strange bird!"

"Guys!" Ikkaku shouted excited and ran to the far end of the sub pointing up the mountain "We're reaching the clouds!"

"Woohoo! Now we're _in_ the clouds!"

"WE PASSED THE CLOUDS!" Lilou screamed, totally freaking out from happiness! Penguin waved his hand in front of her face

"Oi! Don't have a heart attack now!"

She grabbed the railings and held her fluffy hat on her wild raven hair, staring at the peak of the mountain where the water was spouting around and a beautiful rainbow was formed high in the clear sky. Bepo ran next to her excited

"We'll see the Grand Line in few seconds!"

His sentence wasn't finished yet as the Polar Tang reached the peak and stayed still in the air for a moment before landing on the other side of the reverse mountain and sliding down at full speed. Law's grey eyes widened at the sight of that great ocean in front of them, as he was holding the railings next to the others. Lilou bent lower on the railings and laughed out enjoying the tiny drops of water spraying on her face, savoring the sight of the Grand Line beneath them and enduring the whole blissfulness of those incredible moments _'Ace and Luffy are in here!'_ she thought excited, and surprisingly not at all afraid of confronting neither of them _'The dream I'm looking for is in here!'_ a goal, a dream for her to follow and fight for, something she never really had was waiting for her somewhere ahead in that ocean, she could feel it with every piece of her being, pulling her like a magnet towards itself. That lost purpose she always yearned for was now right ahead of her, whatever it was, wherever it was, she just knew it wasn't going to be a long wait at this point.

It took no more than three or four minutes until the sea surface became visible to them, and a lighthouse, and a very huge whale swimming around it… with a really, really bad painting on its giant head! Law narrowed his eyes at the whale, remembering the shadows of a jolly roger wearing a hat in Lilou's memories, a strawhat!

"Eeeh?!" Lilou tilted her head looking at the whale "That's freakishly huge!" she raised a brow "And why is Luffy's jolly roger on its head?!" she growled grabbing her sharp chin.

"Luffy?!" Law frowned at her "You met him?"

"Not really…" she answered honestly "But I've seen his pirate flag. This is their jolly roger… kinda… in a non-talented way… more like Luffy's drawings! But it's their jolly roger!" she nodded.

Ikkaku raised her eyebrows looking at the painting

"Luffy? You mean Mugiwara no Luffy?!"

"Yeah."

"You know him?"

"Yeah!"

"Eeeh? Come to think of it… ARE YOU RELATIVES?!" she screamed at her shocked remembering reading Luffy's full name on a bounty poster in Loguetown. Lilou grinned

"Yeah, he's my twin."

"YOUR WHAT?!" Ikkaku, Clione and Uni shouted together, once again shocked at their new crew's history. Lilou laughed out amused

"You guys seriously need some basic information about us!"

While they were discussing the painting, the submarine's speed slowly lowered and it finally stopped in between the red capes. All of them fell quiet soon as their eyes landed on a weird old man lounging on a pool chair in front of the lighthouse, holding a newspaper in his hands while curiously looking at the reversed submarine that just came down from the mountain. He kept looking at them for few more seconds, and then just looked back to his newspaper without saying a word. Lilou sniffed the air with widened eyes and grabbed her chest

"That flower has eaten an ossan!" she nearly whispered surprised "And this is just the beginning of the Grand Line!"

"That _IS_ an ossan!" Law growled at her annoyed. Ikkaku took her eyes from Lilou's shocked face after a second, not sure if she was joking or being serious.

"These pirates just keep entering in stranger ways lately, Laboon!" the old man said to the whale, apparently named Laboon. Law frowned and cleared his throat

"Hey!"

The old man immediately looked up staring at him in a strange way, making Law hesitate for a second before talking again

"Good morning! I'm Trafalgar Law from the Heart Pir-"

"My name is Crocus, I'm the caretaker of this whale, Laboon, and overseer of the Twin Capes lighthouse. I'm 71 years old. Gemini. Blood type AB. My birthday's on January 4th-"

"What's wrong with him?!" Shachi whispered into Penguin's ear and he shrugged. Lilou shouted at Crocus suddenly

"Oy ossan! How did that flower eat you? You need any help?"

"Is _that_ your first question?!" Uni slammed his forehead in disbelief. Clione desperately looked at Lilou's concerned face

"He's not eaten, he has arms and legs and everything, Lilou-chan!"

"No flower has ever eaten me." Crocus answered calmly, still staring at them in that strange and uncomfortable manner. Law's right eyelid was jumping as he was trying to keep himself calm and not yell at that annoyingly weird old man.

"Oh?! Thank God then! Hahahaha!" Lilou laughed cheerfully "Ossan, who drew that mark on your whale?" she asked pointing at the bad drawing. Crocus let out a laughter

"The potentially next pirate king!" Lilou laughed along with the old man as she was now sure it was Luffy, making Law clench his jaw and look away annoyed. He faced Crocus grumpily

"Crocus-ya, can we stay here for a while to repair our ship and get prepared to move?"

"Sure." he said then disappeared behind his newspaper. Bepo shook his head and took his black eyes off him

"I'm gonna plan our course while you're busy." he then left for the navigating room.

The damages on the upper deck were worse than they thought it would be, the wooden plates were completely shattered at some places, and there was a hole where Lilou jumped down on it from the mast. After listening to Penguin's heated speech about how irresponsible they've been acting and how important it is for everybody to take care of the Polar Tang with all their might, and listening to him shouting and grumbling at them about how they have no talent in fixing the ship, they finally managed to finish repairing the deck properly. Law grabbed his hat and placed it on his head before grabbing Lilou's shoulder

"Come on, you need a checkup." and dragged her to the infirmary.

"You're not the only doctor in here, Law! I'm fine!" she growled while jumping on the metal table in the middle of the infirmary. Law ignored her and started to check her eyes, her throat, the back of her head, her ears, her temperature, her heartbeat, all while she was nagging and repeating how fine she feels. He stopped and glared into her big bright eyes

"You've been out for three days, you should've been staying in bed if it wasn't an emergency situation!"

"Three days?…" she asked with her voice lowered and surprised. He sighed and pressed his tired eyes before pulling her into his strong arms. She was still shocked, it felt like minutes to her, barely an hour maybe, and that strange conversation with her past self was still as fresh in her mind as when it was actually happening. Law buried his face in her hair and inhaled her delightful scent

"You scared the shit outta me!" he mumbled with an exhausted voice. She blinked without saying anything, feeling like something's different. She struggled for a minute to finally realize what was this uncomfortable difference that was making her head buzz in confusion, it was her heart, and her stomach. Her heart was beating steady, and she couldn't feel any rush of excitement or butterflies flying in her stomach as she was sitting there in Law's arms with her face on his chest. He was there, holding her so caring and affectionate, but she was feeling nothing. Nothing more than a sense of gratitude for his concern and efforts, even the needle slightly moving in the middle of her useless so-called-compass was more exciting for her. Law kissed her forehead before gently grabbing her little chin and placing a soft kiss on her cheek. Lilou looked into his steel grey eyes and realized even his beautiful face doesn't make her heart skip a beat anymore.

She suddenly jumped a little and backed off as he leaned closer to kiss her lips. He stopped and stared at her confused

"What's wrong, love?"

"I…" she shook her head and slightly frowned "Don't!"

He remained silent for a few seconds, studying her face. She wasn't mad, he could tell if she was. But something in her eyes made his heart tremble in his chest in fear, that enthusiasm and affection that once used to dance in her eyes while looking into his wasn't there anymore. He backed off still looking at her with questioning eyes, then sighed and dropped his head

"We talked about it, Lil… I said I'm sorry!"

"You didn't." she stated casually. Law looked at her from behind his lashes

"Well I am, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry that I didn't say I'm sorry!" he mumbled trying to cover how desperate he felt. She smiled and stroked his goatee beard

"Apology accepted. But I just… can't! I'm sorry…" her voice dropped slowly "And please don't ask for a reason, cuz I don't know! I just don't want it anymore…" her soft voice was barely audible.

Law just kept looking at her confused, this was way too unexpected, and he couldn't even be mad, just by looking at her face he knew she wasn't messing with him. Yet once again, his mouth started to say words completely in contrast with what he was thinking

"You're just fucking with me! What do you want?!"

"I don't want anything! I'm doing nothing but being honest with you!" she said annoyed. He frowned at her and crossed his arms over his chest

"But why?!"

"I don't know, Law!" she was desperately looking for the right words to explain 'why' but nothing seemed right "I just don't feel how I used to feel…" she looked down at the tip of her boots "I love you, I always have and I always will… but I love you just like I love Penguin, or Shachi, or Bepo…"

The sound of the engine starting to work disturbed the awkward silence in the infirmary. For the first time in all those years, Law wished he had her devil fruit's power so he could get inside her mind and find all the answers to the many questions flying around his head. Bepo's voice talking into the intercom finally rescued Lilou from Law's heavy gaze.

 _"Gather on the deck guys. We have a problem."_

Lilou frowned and jumped down from the table "Let's go." she said softly and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the door with herself. Law followed her quietly, feeling both his mind and heart slowly breaking inside of him. He knew it was him, even if she didn't know it herself. She deserved better, way more better than him, but he just couldn't stand even the idea of her being with somebody else, that was just unacceptable. He hardened his hand around her tiny one and made her stop a few steps before the upper deck's door. She turned to him with questioning eyes. Law took one step standing in front of her and staring deep into her magical eyes

"I'll _make_ you love me like I love you, I will!" he said with a dark voice and nodded, before going out of the corridor and leaving Lilou alone to wonder about this newly found numbness against him for few seconds.

Everything on the ship seemed normal, it was docked by the lighthouse with the prow facing the vast ocean in front of them, and everyone but Bepo seemed unbothered and ready to set sail.

"What's wrong, Bepo?" Clione asked with a full mouth, coming out of the sub after Lilou. Law turned looking at the onigiri plate in his hand, making Clione frown at him and walk further shaking his head.

"Come on, I'm your captain!" Law said and grabbed one from his plate.

"Guys!" Bepo nearly shouted irritated. Ikkaku's eyes widened seeing him panicked like that

"Wow Bepo, chill!"

"I can't! None of the compasses in the sub are working! Look!" He held a compass up for them, the needle was just spinning and moving from one direction to the other. Lilou frowned and sat down next to Sakura calmly while the others fell into panic like Bepo. They've all heard about the Grand Line's crazy nature before, but the north was always north and south always south!

"You newbe pirates just keep coming without knowing a single thing about how to sail through the Grand Line!"

They all quieted down and looked at Crocus still lounging on his pool chair. He pointed at Laboon's painted head with his and continued

"The crew before you had the exact same problem, but I gave them my own Log Pose." he shrugged "You can wait here, maybe the next ship would give you one if they have an extra."

Bepo frowned confused "Your what?!"

"Log Pose."

"What's Log Pose?!"

Crocus folded the paper and stood up "Log Pose is the only thing you can rely on while sailing this ocean, there's no way to determine your exact position in here, because there's no common logic in here. Your normal compass is just useless in the Grand Line."

Penguin sat on the floor and cried out

"This can't be happening! After all we went through to reach here… we're doomed…" his voice dropped slowly like his blonde head. Bepo leaned on the railings

"So it's like there're more magnetic fields that only a special compass can find them?!"

"Yes, the islands of the Grand Line are abundant with minerals, causing abnormal magnetic fields throughout the entire line, aside from that, the weather and currents in here are completely unstable and unpredictable. You're the navigator of this ship, right?"

Bepo nodded and a dark aura of depression surrounded him

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled with his head dropped low. Crocus continued

"Then you realize how insuperable it is to sail without a Log Pose. You have no other way to determine your direction without one. Loge Pose is a unique compass with a distinct shape that memorizes a magnetic field."

Lilou frowned while looking at Crocus with her head thrown back. She held up her left hand and asked

"Something like this?"

"Yes."

The other seven kept staring at Crocus for moments before slowly turning to Lilou, not knowing how to react to this unexpected turn of events. Bepo immediately ran to her and stared at the Log Pose around her wrist

" _Is this a Log Pose?"_ he nearly shouted and turned to Crocus.

"Yes. That's a Log Pose." he said as calm as saying anything else. Lilou chuckled and handed the Log Pose to Bepo

"Ok then, problem solved!" she chuckled again as Bepo threw himself on her hugging her tight and cheered out

"Lilou! You're the most dependable captain when you're not absent!"

Lilou blushed and laughed childishly as everyone gathered around them with cheerful faces. Law leaned and checked the Log Pose over Bepo's head

"There aren't any markings on it!"

"They're not necessary if it memorizes magnetic fields, right?" Bepo asked facing Crocus again. He nodded

"All the islands across the Grand Line are obeying the rules created by magnetic fields. The Log Pose readapts to the magnetic field at each island, and it will point to the right direction for you. You are totally dependent on the magnetic field memorized by your Log Pose. But first, you must choose one of the seven magnetic fields emanating from reverse mountain. However, regardless of which route you choose to start from, your route will eventually join with the other six in one final route, and the name of the island at the end of that route, is Raftel."

"Raftel…" Lilou's eyes shone with excitement.

"The final island of the Grand Line!" Law said grinning. Lilou looked at Crocus

"I heard its name once, and I heard the only person who ever confirmed its existence was the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger!"

Crocus nodded at her. Shachi fisted his hands excited

"Then it _has to_ be there, One Piece!"

"The island is legendary, and One Piece is the most outstanding legend of all. No other soul has yet reached there alive."

Lilou chuckled in amusement "Well that's the end of the world, we'll see what it's like once we get there! Yehihihi!"

Crocus narrowed his eyes at her

"This is the second time in this week I'm hearing such a bold statement!"

"Hmmm?" she threw her head back and looked at him again. Crocus studied her face for a few seconds

"You look awfully like the man who painted this on Laboon's head, kid. Not just your face, but you have the same air around you as well."

Lilou laughed out cheerfully "I still got it then! Hahahaha!"

"Your Log Pose is already adapted to one of the seven magnetic fields. If you follow the direction it's pointing at, your next stop will be an island named Domtong." Crocus said and turned his back to them walking towards the lighthouse, he stopped for a second and looked back at Lilou "The other one went to Whiskey Peak, if you're wondering."

No one but Lilou heard him as they were all running around getting ready to set sail to Domtong. She stopped by the railings and waved at him while they started to sail away from the twin capes

"ARIGATŌ, OSSAN! SEE YAAAA!"

She then turned and ran towards the front of the sub, staring at the undiscovered ocean in front of her eyes, she smiled and let the fresh wind spread her hair around her figure

"We'll meet again, Luffy. Soon! And I won't be running away this time!"

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this one - And seriously, p** **lease write down** **reviews if you like to continue reading this story, because I'm really loosing the motivation to upload more** **. So, let me know what you think!**


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